Jean-Baptiste-Ange Tissier

Known until now through a lithograph after a drawing representing our composition (fig. 1), this work is entirely typical of paintings produced in about 1840 by Ange Tissier, a pupil of Delaroche and Ary Scheffer whose influence is here clearly apparent in the balance between its Romantic facture and its classical poise.

A society portraitist who was well known throughout his career, Tissier was one of Emperor Napoleon III’s favourite painters and a supporter of his regime.

The iconography of this saint, who is not identified in the lithograph’s inscription, is unclear. Her simple clothing and her demeanour nevertheless bring to mind a portrayal of St Genevieve. 

Fig. 1 Julien after Ange Tissier, Grande étude aux deux crayons, n° 9, lithograph.