Joseph Mélin (1814–1886) - Hyena head

Joseph Urbain MÉLIN
(Paris, 1814 – Avon, 1886)

Hyena head

Oil on canvas
Signed and dated lower right
40,5 x 32 cm without frame
65 x 57 cm with frame
1854

Born in Paris on February 14, 1814, Joseph Urbain, known as Joseph Urbain Mélin, was the son of Jean-Louis Urbain known as Mélin, a postal worker, and Marguerite Déodatte Flamand, a seamstress.

Entering the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1830, he was a student of Paul Delaroche and David d'Angers. He exhibited at the Salon from 1836 and continuously until his death in 1886. He began his exhibitions with portraits - a genre in which he was also awarded a prize in 1840 at the Beaux-Arts by winning the Tête competition. of expression, then tried his hand at history and religious painting. In 1837 and 1839, he competed for the Prix de Rome in painting. A history painter until 1843, he then became an animal painter, a field in which he excelled. He obtained a third-class medal in 1843 and 1855, second class in 1845 and a recall in 1858. These various successes at the Paris Salon opened the doors to the high society of the Second Empire. The Pereire brothers bought two paintings of dogs from him in 1855. This was followed by Napoleon III who acquired no less than three paintings, two in 1855 intended one for Saint-Cloud and the other for Fontainebleau and the third in 1857 for the Caen Museum (the painting was destroyed)

In 1881, he married Claudine Masse, painter.
The artist died in Avon on November 3, 1886, and the sale after his death took place in Paris, Hôtel Drouot, on March 2, 1887.

Our painting deals with an extremely rare subject in the animal iconography of the time.

Museums: Caen, Niort, Reims…