Charles Chaplin

(French, 1825-1891)

Reflection

Footnotes

Charles Joshua Chaplin (1825-1891) achieved wide-spread success in France during the mid-19th Century with his society portraits of beautiful young women. As a student at the École des Beaux Arts, his early works of landscapes and French peasant life hinted at an interest in the Realist style with which so many of his contemporaries were concerned. However, Chaplin soon moved towards portraiture, his works displaying a softer palette and an elegance reminiscent of the Rococo style, in particular the works of François Boucher (French, 1703-1770), whom he admired greatly. Chaplin wrote, 'If I could, I would lose myself in the past. I have a particular love for the charming French School of the last century.'¹

In 1851, after receiving a third class medal and critical acclaim for a portrait of his sister exhibited at the Salon, his career flourished. He received a great number of commissions for portraits of the wives and daughters of the French aristocracy and bourgeoisie. Contemporary art critic, Frédéric Loliée, claimed 'Chaplin has renewed, but with less artifice, the delicacies of our Boucher [...] the portraits of women always lit up with charming colours [...] captivate you, they seduce you.'²

In addition to painting, Chaplin was also a talented engraver and interior decorator. His individual style captured the interest of Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, who commissioned Chaplin to decorate the interior of the Palais de l'Élysée and the Palais des Tuileries. Such was his favour as a court painter that in 1859, Napoleon III overturned the Salon judges' decision to ban Chaplin's 'erotically suggestive' portrait, Aurora.

The present lot is an excellent example of Chaplin's sought-after society portraits. The model exudes feminine grace and calm, whilst the boudoir setting and her sumptuous low-cut silk dress gives the scene an intimate, sensual feel. The soft colours and delicate brushstrokes echo the young beauty's lightness of touch as she handles the flower headdress. An indulgent celebration of beauty, Chaplin's unique Neo-Rococo style embodies the extravagance of the bourgeois lifestyle of the period.

Chaplin continued to exhibit at the Salon each year, receiving an Honor Medal in 1865, and also exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1849. His success was recognised with the title of Officier de la Légion d'Honneur in 1881.

¹V. E. Morant, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 'Charles-Joshue Chaplin, An Anglo-French Artist, 1825-1891', October 1989, p.144
²F. Loliée, La Nouvelle Revue, 'Les Disparus: Meissonier et Chaplin', March 1891, p.159