French school from the second Empire, Venitian festivals

Eugène Isabey (1803-1886) and workshop. Venetian Festivals

Canvas measuring 80 cm by 51 cm
Important old frame measuring 104 cm by 74 cm
Signature at the bottom left (illegible)

Our research on this superb painting takes us to the Second Empire, with two painters in particular, Faustin Besson and Eugène Isabey. How can we not think of the latter when looking at one of his most beautiful paintings which depicts a scene from the life of Elizabeth of Valois (1545-1568): the departure of Elizabeth of Valois for Spain.

Eugène Isabey (1803-1886).

He is the son of the miniaturist Jean-Baptiste Isabey. He began with seascapes and landscapes at the 1824 Salon, a salon described as a manifesto of Romanticism. In 1825, he went to London, where he met Delacroix and Bonington, with whom he went to Cornwall. He loved to travel and so worked in different regions, Normandy, Brittany, Auvergne… He also went abroad, notably to Algiers as the official painter of the so-called Algiers expedition, but also to Belgium and Holland. His romantic exaltation triggered passions with his Hurricane before Dieppe at the 1827 Salon and transformed the embarkation of Napoleon's ashes to Saint Helena into an opera performance (1842 Versailles). It should be noted that he was one of the first to evoke the charm of the beaches of Normandy where he encouraged his student Eugène Boudin to draw inspiration from them. (Advice that Boudin fully followed!). He would give the same advice to another of his students, Jongkind, this time in Holland in 1845. He was also a successful portrait painter and director of large-scale shows. His work made him one of the precursors of the Impressionist movement.