Marie-désiré Bourgouin - The Visit

Marie-Désiré BOURGOIN Paris, 1839 – Bois-le-Roi, 1911 The visit Watercolour, graphite Signed “Bourgoin” lower left 50 x 31 cm (65 x 46 cm with the frame) Painter and watercolourist of genre scenes and portraits, Marie-Désiré Bourgoin first studied with Fortuné de Fournier d'Ajaccio. He worked for the poet Théodore de Banville but is best known for having been Sarah Bernhardt's teacher (he also produced a view of her interior and a portrait of her which was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1864). Bourgoin was also a musician and composed several symphonies. He exhibited his works at the Salon des Artistes Français between 1861 and 1868 and at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in 1888. About this last exhibition, the newspaper La Liberté wrote that he knew "like the great master Jacquemart" how to "penetrate into the freshest and most subtle colours of nature", with a "lightness and an incredible transparency of touch" and a great "truth of his limpid and true effects". We know in particular of Bourgoin some very beautiful studio views, that of Ernest Meissonier (Musée Carnavalet), of Alphonse Neuville (between 1875 and 1885) (Musée d'Orsay) and of Sarah Bernhardt (1879 and 1885) (art market) for example. Bourgoin also produced very beautiful interiors in watercolour which reflect the neo-romantic and mannerist taste of the last third of the 19th century. Our watercolor depicts an interior with a young man dressed as an "Incroyable" from the end of the 18th century with his extravagant outfit. He seems to have come to visit his beloved, accompanied by a bouquet of flowers and is about to remove his gloves to greet the lady of the house.