47 - Jules DAISAY (1847–1900)

Jules DAISAY (1847–1900) Portrait of Frédéric Louis Bentayoux (1840–1918) Original canvas. Signed and dated on the right: J Daisay / 1877. 97 x 71 cm Born in 1847 in Chambéry and died in 1900, Jules Daisay was a French painter known primarily as a portraitist, although his body of work also includes landscapes and genre scenes. A student of Benoît Morin, he attended the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and exhibited at the Paris Salon between 1875 and 1878, before returning to Chambéry, where he contributed to the local art scene by holding numerous positions (teacher, curator, founder and president of the Union Artistique de Savoie, city council member, first deputy mayor, and district council member). He painted portraits of his family (Portrait of the Artist’s Daughter, Self-Portrait), Savoyard figures (Portrait of Alphonse Rey), and Parisians, such as this portrait of the composer Frédéric-Louis Bentayoux (1840–1918). Known by the pseudonym Ben Tayoux, Frédéric-Louis Bentayoux notably composed songs known as “revanchardes” in the context of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the most famous of which remains *La Marche d’Alsace et de Lorraine*, written in 1871. He was painted by Jules Daisay in 1877 at the age of 37; his portrait was exhibited that same year at the Paris Salon.