Antoine JOHANNOT dit Tony JOHANNOT (Offenbach-sur-le-Main 18 - Lot 39

Antoine JOHANNOT dit Tony JOHANNOT (Offenbach-sur-le-Main 1803 - Paris 1852) Arsène Houssaye in his dressing room at the Comédie Française in a painted oval Panel, one board, unparqueted 27.5 x 22.5 cm Bears a 20th-century label on the reverse of the panel "Hors catalog n°53". Provenance : Anonymous sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot (Mirabaud et Mercier), November 15, 2019, no. 69 (4,500 ). Bibliography: Catalog for the exhibition Dessins et aquarelles du XIXe siècle, Paris, Galerie La Nouvelle Athènes, spring 2026, reproduced in color under no. 30. Arsène Houssaye became general administrator of the Comédie française in 1849. He organized sumptuous receptions for the "Tout-Paris" of the arts and letters in his Folie Beaujon mansion. Tony Johannot depicts him leaning against a richly carpeted table, in a pensive attitude, slightly set back in the center of the composition. Surrounding him is a circle of elegant female figures. On the left, the young woman in the brown dress, her hand resting on her cheek, could be the famous tragedienne Rachel. Our painting is similar to a watercolor and ink on paper presented at Galerie La Nouvelle Athènes in 2026. There is an engraving by Gabriel Xavier Montaut based on our painting (with a few differences), intended to illustrate Arsène Houssaye's Voyage à ma fenêtre (an engraving housed in the Musée National du Château de Compiègne), in which he offers an intimate yet witty observation of contemporary society.