38 - Benjamin CONSTANT (1845–1902)

Benjamin CONSTANT (1845–1902) Portrait of Madame Alfred Oppermann, née Isabelle Darier, 1896 Oil on canvas, signed and dated “1896” in the lower right corner. Dimensions: 116 × 88 cm. In a 19th-century wooden frame with gilded stucco and Orientalist decoration. Exhibition: Paris, 1895 Salon, Palais des Champs-Élysées, no. 148. Work listed under number 148 in the official catalog of the 1895 Salon: Explanation of the Works of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Engraving, and Lithography by Living Artists, Exhibited at the Palais des Champs-Élysées Beginning May 1, 1895, 2nd edition, Paris, Imprimerie Paul Dupont, 1895. Bibliography: Gustave Haller, *Le Salon: Ten Years of Painting*, Paris, Calmann-Lévy, publishers. “We owe to Mr. Benjamin Constant the superb portrait of Madame A. Oppermann, withdrawn into the privacy of her home, a corner of princely luxury. Her complexion is enlivened by a fiery ray, falling from some invisible stained-glass window, which ricochets off the velvet of her dress and scatters across the opulent background. Behold this fur, this arrangement of fabrics, and even that opportunistic touch of Oriental embroidery, emerging suddenly on the right as a foil! The lady’s piercing eyes and mysterious smile remain etched in one’s memory once they have met your gaze. How powerful it all is!” Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist, then passed down within the same family to the present day.