Alfred Bruyas
1846
Alexandre Cabanel painted this dashing portrait of his patron, Alfred Bruyas, while studying at the French Academy in Rome in 1846. Notice the subject's magnificent ginger beard and the pink silk cravat—he looks like the epitome of 19th-century cool, casually holding his spectacles as if he just paused from reading a profound book. Bruyas was a wealthy collector who would later famously support the controversial realist Gustave Courbet, but here he is immortalized in the polished, idealized style of Academic art. The signature in the bottom right corner confirms the location and date, marking a young Cabanel's mastery before he became the darling of the French Empire.
- Technique
- Oil on canvas
Location: Musée Fabre
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