Alfred De Dreux

Private Collection
Marie-Christine Renauld, France
Private Collection, Paris

Marie-Christine Renauld, L'Univers d'Alfred De Dreux, 1810-1860, suivi du catalogue raisonné, Arles, 2008, part II, p. 7, no. Inv. MCR 8, illustrated; and illustrated part I, p. 168

This painting has been lined and appears to be fresh and clean. Under UV, sparse areas of restoration to frame abrasion on the extreme edges fluoresce, as does one small spot on her chest, and another in a dog.
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Alfred De Dreux received his first art lessons from his uncle, Pierre-Joseph Dedreux-Dorcy, the first owner of The Raft of Medusa by Théodore Géricault with whom he shared a studio. Géricault even made several portraits of the young Alfred, whose lifelong predilection for equestrian subjects is a direct result of the master's influence on him.

De Dreux enjoyed early success, both professionally and socially. During the July Monarchy, he became the portraitist of the beau monde. He usually depicted his elegant sitters in landscape settings, often astride their spirited horses and accompanied by their favorite dogs.  In 1844, he traveled for the first time to England, where he commemorated King Louis-Philippe's state visit to Queen Victoria. After studying the works of such artists as John Ferneley, John Frederick Herring and Newton Smith Fielding, he made a specialty of sporting scenes. Four years later, he returned to England, where he painted family members of the recently deposed Louis-Philippe.

Under the Second Empire, De Dreux enjoyed the patronage of Napoleon III and his court. In fact, it was a portrait of the Emperor that led to the artist's untimely death in 1860. The previous year, De Dreux had painted an official likeness of Napoleon on horseback and the monarch took a fancy to the chestnut steed which belonged to the artist, who willingly sold it to him through the intermediary of the Imperial Master of the Horse. The latter greatly inflated the price and when Napoleon complained to the artist at a court ball, De Dreux became infuriated and challenged the courtier to a duel. In the ensuing encounter, the painter was mortally wounded.