Théodore FRERE (1814-1888) Le repos des lions, signed lower left, panel slightly split. Oil on panel. 17 x 22.5 cm. Note: The eldest son of a Parisian music publisher, Charles-Théodore Frère was a pupil of Jules Coignet and Camille Roqueplan. After his studies, he travelled throughout France: Alsace, Auvergne, Normandy. His travels in Africa and the Middle East led him to orientalist painting. He settled in Algiers in 1836, but left in 1837 with the army for Constantine, which he captured on 13 October, and did not return to Paris until 1839. Like his younger brother, he was a prolific painter. During his first trip to Algeria, he painted canvases for the King of Württemberg. Around 1851, he travelled to the Middle East, visiting Malta and Greece, Egypt and the Ottoman Empire.