Thomas Couture (French, 1815-1879)


Girl in profile signed with initials 'T.C.' (lower left)oil on canvas46.3 x 38.1cm (18 1/4 x 15in).
|ProvenanceThe collection of a Dutch noble family, circa 1900.Thence by descent.Born in Northern France, Thomas Couture studied under Antoine-Jean Gros and later Paul Delaroche. After failing to win the Prix de Rome award several times, Couture finally won the scholarship in 1837, before debuting at the Paris Salon a year later, with his work Jeune Vénitien après une nuit d'orgie. Couture's masterpiece Les Romains de la décadence (1847, Musee D'Orsay, Paris) won the first-class medal at the Salon. However the artist became increasingly disenfranchised with the established ateliers, publishing a book entitled Méthode et entretiens d'atelier and opening an independent school for history painting, which attracted French, German and American artists. Amongst his pupils were Edouard Manet, Anselm Feuerbach, Puvis de Chavannes and Henri Fantin-Latour. As well as large historical works, Couture executed a number of portraits, many of which were imbued with a sense of melancholia.