Geoffroy Chocarne (1797-1870) Charity scene for the fires

Geoffroy Alphonse CHOCARNE
(Boulogne 1797 - Paris 1870)
Scene of charity at the fires
Oil on canvas
H. 65 cm ; L. 81 cm 
Signed lower right, dated 1848

Provenance : Private collection, Périgueux

Geoffroy Chocarne, not to be confused with Chocarne Moreau who worked at the end of the 19th century, is an academic painter whose works we see mainly dated between the end of the 1820s and 1855/60. Most of them are very luminous genre scenes that were particularly appreciated during the first half of the 19th century. He also produced some very elegant portraits which he exhibited at the Paris Salon from 1838 onwards. We also know that he was a professor of drawing and painting in the capital. A young girl who became very famous was his pupil, along with his sister. This was Berthe Morisot.

Despite our research, this subject, which seems to be very real, does not give any information. The stamped rue du Puget does not allow us to find the city in which the painter placed the scene. On the right side of the composition, a cobbler's and wigmaker's shop named "L'Espérance" is in ruins following a fire... A well chosen name! On the window sill is an urn in which a child deposits a coin, carried by her mother. This trunk is "for the burnt out" of the ruined store.
The scene takes place in an alley that leads to a property bordered by a turret, and overlooked by a strange villa that reminds us more of the south of France by its white walls and its architecture.