Hugues Merle

With Alexander Gallery, New York (by 1983);

With Masco Corporation,

By whom sold, Sotheby's, New York, 10 November 1998, lot 215;

Private collection, New York;

Thence by descent to the present owner.

M. Vottero, "Hugues Merle (1822-1881) Peintre de Genre et Marche de l'Art Sous le Second Empire," Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art francais, 2011, p. 214, 216, no. 220, plate 145.

Hugues Merle was widely celebrated during his lifetime for his meticulously polished and historically nuanced depictions of tender familial moments and historical genre themes. The artist’s work is often associated with the subjects and style of his friend and rival, William Bouguereau. At the encouragement of their mutual friend and advisor, art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, Bouguereau began to explore themes of familial love–a genre that Merle had popularized through his forty-eight successful entries at the Salon between 1847 and 1881.

Both Merle and Bouguereau would later find profitable work with the Adolphe Goupil art dealership, and Merle went on to mentor the American expatriate, salon painter, and second wife of Bouguereau, Elizabeth Jane Gardner. Today, Merle’s works are featured in collections including The Louvre and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.