Oil on canvas, signed at lower left, the verso with stencil reading "à la Palette du Rubens / Rue de Seine n° 6 Paris," presented in a very attractive period gilt composition frame.

Stretcher size 28 1/2 x 19 1/4 in.; Frame dimensions 40 1/4 x 31 in.

From the Collection of Professor Roberto Severino, Washington, D.C.

Charles Joshua Chaplin studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, enrolling in 1840. He also studied privately with several Parisian painters, most notably the French neoclassical history and portrait painter, Michel Martin Drolling.

Chaplin first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1845, with a portrait of his mother. In 1851, he was awarded a medal at the Paris Salon for a portrait of his sister. From this moment, he was inundated with commissions to paint the wives and daughters of the Parisian aristocracy. He was so sought after that Edouard Manet is quoted as saying Chaplin knew “the smile of woman.”

In 1859, Chaplin’s painting of Aurora was banned for inclusion in the Salon for being too erotically suggestive. Only at the intervention of Empress Eugenie and Napoleon III, who had appointed him an official art of the French court, was this ruling overturned and the painting was allowed to be included in the exhibition.

This scandal likely only served to enhance Chaplin’s reputation. By this time, he had shifted away from the more academic and realistic style of painting and was much inspired by the Romantic works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough and Rococo revival.

Charles Chaplin was a champion of female artists. He actively encouraged female students, opening his studio to them and providing instruction way before the Ecole des Beaux-arts did in 1897. Among his most famous students were American born Mary Cassatt and the English painter, Louise Jopling.

Minor craquelure; light surface grime; minor rubbing to frame.