Eugène Claude, pseudonym of Jean Claude (Toulouse, 1841 - Asnières-sur-Seine,1923) A bouquet of chrysanthemums Original canvas Signed and dated lower left 'E. Claude 77'. H 162×W 116.5cm Provenance: Anonymous sale, Brussels, Galerie Moderne, 22 May 2001, no808 (€21,070) Exhibition: Salon de 1877, no491 Born into a family of porcelain merchants, Eugène Claude began his career as a painter on porcelain. He was a member of the Société des Artistes. He mainly painted portraits and still lifes of flowers, fruit and animals. He exhibited at the Paris Salon from the age of twenty in 1861. He won several medals at the Salons and took part in the Lyon and Nantes Salons. A prolific artist, he sent around sixty paintings to the Salon in thirty years. A full note signed by Xavier d'Aleyrac de Coulange, art historian and member of the Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français, accompanies the painting: 'inspired by the great floral compositions of the 17th-century Flemish school, this canvas is one of the artist's masterpieces'.