Charming portrait of a young Frenchman dated 1914. Painted in oil on canvas, a half length seated portrait of a cheerful and relaxed looking young man with a thin moustache, smartly dressed and wearing a beret of the long droopy type with silk brim worn by artists and intellectuals (rather than the more prosaic farmer’s type). With his elbow resting on the back of a chair he holds his pipe loosely in his hand. Architectural elements in the background, a window and doorway perhaps. Subject and artist are unknown but it is signed L.
“
Devaux in the upper left hand corner together with fateful date 1914 and the rather poignant inscription ‘In memory of our happy hobbies’.
Collinge Antiques
With some surface cracking to the paint, presented unframed on the original stretcher.
Dimensions: width 24", height 28½".