Chasseriau, Theodore (1819-1856) - 1850-52 Orientalist Interior (Private Collection)


Théodore Chassériau was a French romantic painter noted for his portraits, historical and religious paintings, allegorical murals, and Orientalist images inspired by his travels to Algeria. A precociously gifted draughtsman, he entered Ingres's studio at the age of 11 and remained there until Ingres left in 1834. He made his Salon début in 1836 with several portraits and religious subjects, including Cain Accursed, for which he received a third-class medal. Among his many submissions in subsequent years were Susanna Bathin, a Marine Venus and the Toilet of Esther. These three paintings of nude female figures combine an idealization derived from Ingres with a sensuality characteristic of Chassériau. In the 1840s he conceived an admiration for Delacroix and attempted, with considerable success, to combine Ingres's classical linear grace with Delacroix's Romantic color. Chassériau was also an outstanding portraitist and painted nudes and North African scenes (he made a visit there in 1846. After a period of ill health, exacerbated by his exhausting work on commissions for murals to decorate the Churches of Saint-Roch and Saint-Philippe-du-Roule, Chassériau died at the age of 37 in Paris

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