Ernest Michel, Lot n° 43

large rectangular oil on canvas signed and dated lower left: "Ernest Michel 1873": Portrait of a young officer of the 1st regiment of horsemen holding, in his left hand, an officer's saber of light cavalry year XI of the First Empire, probably that of one of his ancestors, in the background a landscape of the south; frame with small gilded rod; 136 x 94 cm. Early Third Republic period. Good condition. Ernest Barthélémy MICHEL, history and portrait painter, born in Montpellier on July 3, 1833, † in 1902 in the same city. On August 10, 1851, he entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts where his masters were PICOT and CABANEL. In 1856, 2nd prize of Rome and 1st prize in 1860; he appeared at the Salon from 1859 to 1876. He was awarded a medal in 1870 and made a knight of the Legion of Honor in 1880. For many years, he was curator of the museum and director-teacher of the Montpellier School of Fine Arts.