The Salon of 1874

Description of the artwork

The uniqueness of this painting lies in its subject: a visit to an exhibition hall at the Paris Salon in 1874. Léopold Camille Cabaillot-Lassalle had the original idea of representing his contemporaries visiting the section devoted to paintings and, above all, of asking his artist friends to paint a reduction of the canvas that they would present at this Salon.
Thus, one can see in the painting of Cabaillot-Lassalle at the top left the still life, Chrysanthemums and Peaches (n°1473) painted by Eugène Petit, to his right is one of the favorite paintings of the Salon, the Cart in the Forest, Fontainebleau by Jules-Jacques Veyrassat (n°1781) then to his right The Valley of Franchard (n°876) that Ernest Guillemer represents. Below, from right to left, are presented the portrait of the collector and friend of the artists M. E. Surville (n°274) painted by Henriette Browne, in the center The Windmill (n°1558) by Léon Richet. Finally, at the bottom left, an original and unpublished work by Camille Corot, a slightly different version of his painting Le soir (n°459) presented at the Salon.

The painter even imagines the behavior of the visitors at the 1874 Salon. The literate women from the bourgeoisie consult the Salon booklet attentively or pass by chatting while their husbands look attentively at the works presented on the walls and are ecstatic in front of a Corot or a Veyrassat.

Origin

Jacques Kugel, Paris;
His sale, Sotheby's Parke Bernet, New York, January 25, 1980, n°4 (as 'Jean Béraud');
At Alon Zakaim Fine Art, London;
Acquired from the latter by the current owner in June 2009