TROUBADOUR SCHOOL (First half of the 19th century) "The elderly sovereign with the falcon, the young prince and the queen". Oil on canvas (Re-tooled; small gap in the lower part) H. 66 - L.. 55 cm (With gilded wood frame; a chip at the bottom of the panel, slight lack of pigment, some damage to the frame) Patrice Dubois Expert in Antique Paintings & Drawings Member of the Syndicat Français des Experts Professionnels en OEuvres d'Art et Objets de Collection Comment : This 19th-century oil on panel revives the troubadour style, in the taste of the painter Fleury-Richard, then in vogue in wealthy, bourgeois circles. The troubadour style is characterized by small- to medium-format painting, depicting either an edifying historical episode or a theatrical anecdote, with a very smooth brushstroke. It highlights a fantasized Middle Ages or Renaissance, sometimes with a touch of humor. Here, in an interior scene, the characters are dressed in French Renaissance fashion. The master of the house admires the falcon presented to him by his falconer, while the wife of the master of the house has eyes only for the young falconer, from whom she discreetly receives a sweet bill.