Constant Félix Smith (attributed To) - Athalie's Dream

Constant Félix SMITH Paris, 1788 – Paris, 1873 The Dream of Athalie Oil on canvas 38 x 46 cm (43 x 51 cm with the frame) Beautiful 19th century giltwood frame Good condition (some cracks) The subject of our painting is rare. It is The Dream of Athalie, taken from Act II of Athalie, a tragedy by Jean Racine. “A naked woman lying on a richly carved bed covered with beautiful draperies; she is prey to the tortures of the most dreadful nightmare: a child armed with a dagger is standing before her, ready to strike. In the background of the painting, we see Mother Jezebel whose clothes are being torn by devouring dogs. » This is the description of the painting by Constant Félix Smith as described in the catalog of the Nîmes Museum of 1853. It is a very large painting (three meters fifty wide), by the French painter Constant Félix Smith who exhibited at the Salon des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1817 A Holy Family and a Portrait of Mr. B. in his studio, in 1819 Moses and the Brazen Serpent and A Portrait and in 1822 The Dream of Athaliah. Painting attributed to the Nîmes Museum by the State in 1836 and now lost. Constant Félix was a French painter, student of Jacques-Louis David and Anne-Louis Girodet. We can compare our painting with another sketch by the same painter and preserved at the Petit Palais, for his church painting Moses and the Brazen Serpent for the church of Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis in Paris.