Date: 1838
Materials and technics: Oil
Dimensions: H. 95 x w. 56,4 cm
Inscriptions: Annotation on the back: "Joseph/Carle Paul/Horace/Delaroche/né le 1er décembre/1836/ 10 janvier/1838."
Inventory number: PPP4983
Acquisition details: Purchase, 2014
Room: 7
The success and remarkable fame of Paul Delaroche (1797-1856) is mainly due to his large historical paintings, for which the choice of subject and narrative power made them iconic works: The Children of Edward (Salon of 1831, Paris, Louvre Museum) The Execution of Lady Jane Grey (Salon of 1834, National Gallery, London) and The Assassination of the Duke de Guise (Salon of 1835, Chantilly, Musée Condé).
However, his marriage in 1835 to Louise Vernet, the only daughter of the painter Horace Vernet, led him along a different path, that of genre painting in which he used members of his family as models in compositions inspired by the Italian Renaissance, such as the Childhood of Pic de la Mirandole (1842, Nantes, Musée des Beaux-Arts) in which his young son can be identified.
Horace (1836-1879), depicted here at the age of two, later became a doctor and town councillor in Versailles. He is depicted in a richly-decorated interior, and his pose is full of candour contrasting with the fixed gaze of his dog, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
C. L.
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