Charles-Émile-August Carolus-Duran

Commissioned from the artist by the de Roussy de Sales family circa 1888;
Richard de Roussy de Sales (by descent from the above, his mother);
Thence by descent to the present owner (nephew of the above).

This canvas has been wax relined. The surface is in good condition aside from faint craquelure in the areas of dark pigment in her hair and dress, which has been stabilized and flattened by the lining. Under UV, broad over-painting on her skin, in her dress, and in areas in the background fluoresces.
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Carolus-Duran is remembered as one of the most sought after portrait painters of his generation and for his role as the founder and director of an innovative studio in Paris at the end of the nineteenth century.  This was a school, somewhat radical in its approach, where the emphasis in training was on color and not line.  As one of the artist's American pupils, J. Alden Weir explained: "Carolus-Duran, who is the great portrait painter of France of the present day, teaches his pupils still in a different way.  He puts them in front of the living model with the brushes in their hands to represent the model as well as possible, making them draw and paint both at the same time" (as quoted in Dorothy Weir Young, The Life and Letters of J. Alden Weir, New Haven, 1960, p. 28).  Such technique is demonstrated in the present work, the artist's bold use of color and finely modeled form capturing the lovely likeness of the Countess Lily de Roussy de Sales.  Beyond their aristocratic titles, the Count and Countess de Roussy de Sales were both physicians in France in the late nineteenth century and would likely have moved in the same circles as many of the artist's distinguished portrait subjects.

Since leaving the Carolus-Duran's studio the portrait has remained in the same extended family. It was first passed to the de Roussy de Sales' son Richard who led a remarkable life as a decorated officer and member of Charles de Gaulle's close circle during World War II, then a United Nations ambassador to a number of African and Asian countries, all before leaving to teach at Southern Methodist University, authoring textbooks on French language, and eventually retiring to paint and sculpt.