Isidore PATROIS (1815-1884)

Folk festival in a village in Russia, 1868 Oil on canvas, signed and dated lower left I. Patrois 68. Preserved in its original wooden frame with cartel mentioning the name of the artist. 82,5 x 130 cm - Frame : H : 92 - W : 140 cm History : Isidore Patrois is a painter of genre who became famous throughout his life at the Salon where he started in 1844. It was through historical subjects that Isidore Pantrois revealed himself, notably by presenting episodes from the life of Joan of Arc, François I and Jacques Coeur, for which he received a 3rd class medal at the 1861 Salon. The other side of his production, which interests us here, is his love for Russia, which he discovered in 1859 during his only stay in Slavic lands. Through this impressive painting, he gives us the essence of popular Russia, which seems so far from Western civilization. It is undoubtedly this gap between our two worlds that fascinated Isidore Pantrois. He wanted to represent it in all its beauty in order to show a dreamed Russia, the one we like to imagine when reading Pushkin's tales. The grace and lightness that emanates from this painting did not make the critics of his time insensitive. Louis Énault (1824-1900), a novelist and journalist, said of Patrois that "he always knows how to make the characters who animate his compositions sympathetic [...] One would be happy to live with most of his heroes, and especially his heroines. [...] one wants to see them again when one has seen them; one is not satisfied with finding the interiors he shows us pretty, one wants to live in them". Exhibition: Most probably the painting entitled "First Impression; Russian Scene", exhibited at the 1870 Salon under no. 2190.2190. Related work: A painting of the same format with the same characters, entitled "Yenickh and Nievesta; the promised ones", exhibited at the same 1870 Salon under no. 2189, is kept at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Reims (inv. 2019.1.35).