Signed upper left: A. Delobbe

Sotheby's, Paris, June 17, 2015, lot 140; Private collection, Katy, Texas, acquired from the above.

François-Alfred Delobbe (French, 1835-1920) Young mother and her child Oil on canvas 57 x 35-1/2 inches (144.8 x 90.2 cm) Signed upper left: A. Delobbe PROVENANCE: Sotheby's, Paris, June 17, 2015, lot 140; Private collection, Katy, Texas, acquired from the above. Born in Paris, François-Alfred Delobbe was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts at the very young age of 16, suggesting a level of exceptional natural talent. After training under Thomas Couture, he entered the studio of William-Adolphe Bouguereau, whose style and subject matter had a profound effect on the young artist. Although urged by Bouguereau to focus on mythological subjects and portraiture, Delobbe soon gravitated to genre subjects, which may have also been the result of his close friendship with classmate Alfred Guillou. Guillou was from Concarneau in Brittany, a fishing village on the coast where the peasant way of life, customs, and dress remained largely unchanged since the Middle Ages. In this colorful, rugged environment, Delobbe found his subject, and his canvases from the second half of his career primarily featured scenes of women and children. He was painting contemporary genre that was simultaneously a view of the past. This tender maternal scene of a young woman cradling her baby is an early work by Delobbe, painted around 1860, roughly the same time as his debut at the Salon des Artistes Français (1861) with a portrait of his mother. Interestingly, the young mother in the present work possesses a strong sense of specificity rather than being a generic type. Her face is truly a portrait. The painting also presages Delobbe's interest in genre that recalls an earlier period. Through costume, Delobbe presents the moment as an event from the early 16th century, perhaps even the late 15th century. The child's nightcap is very similar to those depicted in images of French royal children (Catherine de Medici's children, for example) and the very young Henry VIII and Edward VI. The figure's clothing is a romantic view of what a middle-class or perhaps lower gentry woman would have worn. Aspects of her garment, such as the smock beneath the dress, with square neckline and tighter sleeves with ornamental accents that puff out at the shoulder and elbow, are more in the style of the late 15th century. We are grateful to Craig Schermer for his kind assistance in identifying the costumes shown in this painting. HID12401132022 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

Lined canvas. Mild frame abrasion at edges. Some yellowing to varnish layer. Finely patterned craquelure throughout, with a few scattered instances of more pronounced pigment separation. A horizontal line, approximately 7 inches in length and appearing to be a repaired tear, in the background just left of the woman's head and slightly affecting her hair. Some scattered abrasions with associated loss to the paint layer, the most notable of which appear at right edge in lower right quadrant and at the proper right edge of the woman's skirt in lower left quadrant. Mild surface dirt and dust. Not examined out of frame due to size. Under UV: varnish fluoresces green unevenly and appears to have been removed in some areas. Retouching to aforementioned repair. Brushy retouching at edges and in background. Scattered instances of more finely applied dots and dashes of retouching throughout. Some apparent strengthening applied to darkest shadows of some background elements. Framed Dimensions 63 X 41.25 X 3 Inches