Gabriel-Joseph FERRIER (Nîmes, 1847 - Paris, 1914) Study for La Liseuse Oil on canvas (Original canvas) Signed '-Gabriel-Ferrier-' upper right Study for la Liseuse, oil on canvas, signed, by G.-J. Ferrier 12.99 x 9.65 in. 33.0 x 24.5 cm Provenance: Anonymous sale; Paris, Hôtel Drouot, s.3, Me Paul Renaud, 17 April 1969 ; Acquired at this sale by Gérard Lévy ; Gérard Lévy Collection; Then by descent Exhibitions: L'Art et la Vie en France à la Belle Époque, Île de Bendor, Fondation Paul Ricard, September - October 1971, cat. no. 213: "Étude pour 'la liseuse'" [label on reverse]. Bibliography: Schurr, Gérald, 1820-1920 / Les Petits Maîtres de la Peinture / Valeur de Demain, Éditions de la Gazette, 1969, reproduced on the cover: "La Liseuse". Trained by Ernest Hebert and Isidore Pils at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Gabriel Ferrier exhibited at the Salon from 1869, before winning the first Grand Prix de Rome for painting in 1872. On his return from the Villa Médicis, he devoted himself to history painting and portraits of personalities from the Third Republic. He won a gold medal at the 1889 Universal Exhibition and became a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1906. Our little painting belongs to the most popular part of Ferrier's career, in which he also painted charming little intimate scenes that met with great success. Depicting the artist's wife stopping her reading to give free rein to her thoughts, our work is part of a series of compositions that are quite similar, but with subtle variations. Gabriel-Joseph FERRIER (Nîmes, 1847 - Paris, 1914) 33.0 x 24.5 cm Trained by Ernest Hebert and Isidore Pils at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Gabriel Ferrier exhibited at the Salon from 1869, before winning the first Grand Prix de Rome for painting in 1872. On his return from the Villa Médicis, he devoted himself to history painting and portraits of personalities from the Third Republic. He won a gold medal at the 1889 Universal Exhibition and became a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1906. Our little painting belongs to the most popular part of Ferrier's career, in which he also painted charming little intimate scenes that met with great success. Depicting the artist's wife stopping her reading to give free rein to her thoughts, our work is part of a series of compositions that are quite similar, but with subtle variations.