Description:

Charles-Jean-Baptiste Colson (French, c. 1810-1851, act. New Orleans 1836-1837), "Pendant Portraits of an Elegant New Orleans Husband and Wife", 1837, oil on canvas, each signed, dated and inscribed "New Orleans" upper right, artist supply stencil en verso of wife, 36 1/4 in. x 29 in., original frames. Provenance: By descent in the family of Mrs. Charles D. Richardson; Didier, Inc., New Orleans, Nov. 9, 1996 Note: After studying at the École des Beaux-Arts and in the studio of Baron Antoine-Jean Gros (1771-1835) in Paris, Charles Colson, like many French portraitists, decided to travel to New Orleans, where likenesses by French artists were in great demand. In November of 1836, Colson and his sister, Honorine Colson St. Clair, arrived in New Orleans from Le Havre on the Salem with a group of artists including the leading portraitist in New Orleans at the time, Jean-Joseph Vaudechamp (1790-1866). Colson’s two other known portraits from his time in New Orleans, Creole Woman, and M. Carti, are held at the Louisiana State Museum. These two works and the two rare paintings offered here from 1837 display Colson’s neo-classical painting technique, combined with the soft, smooth brushwork and romantic poses he had acquired from his training with Gros. In particular, the treatment of the silk, jewelry, and bonnet of the female portrait from this pair are extremely well rendered. Colson portrays the wife’s clothing, the height of c. 1835 European fashion, impeccably; her gigot sleeves that tighten at the wrists, hairstyle parted in the center with ringlets framing the face, and bonnet adorned with lace, flowers, and a large bow under the chin are all on par with the styles being worn in Paris and London in the mid-1830s.

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November 21, 2015 10:00 AM CST
New Orleans, LA, US

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