Saturday, August 5, 2023

Paul Victor Mathey

Paul Victor Mathey (1844 —1929) once said: "Each time I paint I throw myself into the water in order to learn swimming." (The quote is also attributed to Edouard Manet.)


Felicien Rops in his workshop by Paul Mathey, c. 1888

He learned painting and engraving at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts of Paris in the workshops of painters Léon Cogniet, Isidore Pils and Alexis-Joseph Mazerolle.

Paul Mathey, Portrait of Ernest Ange Duez (1876)

He began to exhibit at the Salon de Paris in 1868 and became a versatile artist, earning an income from portrait painting while also painting landscapes, still lifes, and other subjects.

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1 comment:

  1. In other posts you have talked about contrast drawing the eye to the focal point, and this is another example of that where the lighting brightens his collar and shirt directing the viewer’s eye to the sitter’s portrait/face.
    I think what strikes me the most and what I feel I need to learn more about is lighting my subjects or finding that right time of light outdoors to have that opportunity of greater contrast.

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