Lot 205: CHARLES-JOSEPH-FREDERIC SOULACROIX FRENCH 1825-1879

CHARLES-JOSEPH-FREDERIC SOULACROIX FRENCH 1825-1879

SOFT SATINS AND SILKS

MEASUREMENTS

81 by 36 cm

Oil on canvas Signed lower right

PROVENANCE
Louis Pisani's Picture Gallery, Florence (stencil on the reverse) Private collection, Melbourne Charles-Joseph-Frédéric Soulacroix was born in Montpellier on 6 July 1825. He studied in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts from 1845 ? both painting and sculpture ? and at the Dusseldorf Academy under the German genre painter Peter von Cornelias. He made his debut at the Paris Salon in 1849. Soulacroix achieved great success with figurative compositions in which the sumptuous textures of silk and satin fabrics, the delicacy of lace and the smooth finish of marble are as much his subject as the models themselves. He later lived in Rome and Florence; and for a time at Boulogne-sur-mer to paint frescoes for the local cathedral. Soulacroix did not exhibit frequently at the Salon, evidently preferring private sales and commissions. His work was very popular with American visitors to Europe and he is represented in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.