Technique

Head of an Old Man Smoking, Musée d'Orsay

A vivid portrait, painted in bold colours, thickly impasted on the face, hat and shirt, and worked with a palette knife on the shirt. The colours are clearly separated, the brushstrokes distinct. The hat is outlined in black, but the outline of the shoulders is blurred. By contrast the background and coat are merely scrubbed in thinly. An area at the top of the hat has been scraped off, and there are thin scratched lines over the coat.

Conservation History

Unknown. The verso bears the names of two Paris art suppliers and frame makers, 'J. BOVARD / toiles et couleurs' and 'André Chenue / Lavetier Emballeur / 5 Rue de la Terrasse Paris'. J. Bovard (fl. 1850/1862) had premises in the rue de Buci (Bussy) in the 1850s, until about 1862; his firm continued as 'La maison Bovard Chabot' (or Chabod) until the end of the century, and under 'Chabod veuve' (the widowed Mme Chabod) from 1900-1905. Andre Chenue (fl. 1890s) represented a long established and still existing logistics company, and was frequently employed by the artist in the late 19th century.