François-Alfred Delobbe Furniture

Francois-Alfred Delobbe "The Little Neighbour", French, 1835-1920. A fine and charming Oil on canvas depicting a young lady standing next to a sweet young girl sitting at a well-head. Signed at lower centre: A. Delobbe. Label on reverse has title and medals Hors Concours Paris, 1874 and 1876. Within an ornate gilt-wood and gesso frame, circa 1870. Measures: Canvas height: 26 inches (66 cm). Canvas width: 19 3/4 inches (50.2 cm). Frame height: 38 inches (96.5 cm). Frame width: 34 inches (86.4 cm). François-Alfred Delobbe, (1835, Paris-1920, Paris) was a French painter in the Naturalist style. He was a student of Thomas Couture and William Bouguereau at the École des Beaux-arts, where he had been admitted at the age of 16, and had his debut at the Salon in 1861 with a portrait of his mother. Mythological, Orientalist and genre scenes in the Academic style were his original specialities. His career was truly launched when he obtained a commission to decorate the Town Hall of the recently annexed 15th Arrondissement; one of only eight such commissions granted. From 1875 until his death, he and his family were regular visitors at the artists' colony in Concarneau, where he had been invited to come by its founder Alfred Guillou and in whose home they sometimes stayed. The soft light of the region inspired him to focus on painting children and young women, generally in peasant scenes. He would often sketch profusely during the summer, then finish the painting during the winter at his Paris Studio. Most of his models came from the Concarneau region. Museums: Musée de Brême: Baptéme à Venice. Musée de Breslau: Filles de l’Océan. Musée de Rochefort: Le retour des champs...