Jacques Gustave Hamelin - Self-portrait Of The Artist In His Studio - 1847

Jacques Gustave Hamelin was, like Eugène Boudin, born in Honfleur. Much of his work was inspired by his native Normandy, its landscapes and rural life. A well-established artist, Hamelin regularly exhibited at the Salon des artistes français. We know of several self-portraits of him that allow us to identify him here.

The painter depicts himself at work, and more precisely the moment depicted is that of the search for inspiration, an idea even before its execution. Indeed, the palettes are still hanging on the wall, the canvases in progress lean against the walls, the large brush is on the ground. The artist rummages through a portfolio of drawings, studies that will certainly be used for a painted composition.

On the wall we can observe the great classical references to which Hamelin refers. We can thus see for sure an engraving of the Virgin with the chair by Raphael, just below a Saint Sebastian, undoubtedly after the composition by Van Dyck. Further to the left on the wall we can make out a Saint Jerome in a blue habit. This charming studio view, a genre prized by amateurs, is signed and dated 1847, and presented in a frame of the period.