The Sewing, 19th century

One of the most eclectic painters of the Colony of Painters of d'Ecouen is undoubtedly Paul Soyer. His mother, Mrs. Landon Pauline, already known in the world of engraving with chisels, had come to Ecouen in 1856 with her son, who was born in Paris on February 24, 1823, at 11 Boulevard de Clichy.

In Ecouen, August 9, 1877, he married Joséphine Charlotte Steiger, professor of music to the Legion of honor. Like many, he was a pupil of Léon Cogniet and soon exhibited, from 1847, with a portrait of his own mother, in Paris at the Salon des artistes français until 1901. He obtained a first medal after the Salon of 1870, one of second place in 1882, and finally one of bronze at the Universal Exhibition in 1889.

His paintings sometimes take on impressive proportions such as that exhibited at the Salon de Paris in 1870, which shows us blacksmiths at work, between three and four meters high and five or six meters wide. It is one of the favorite subjects of the artist, very attached to represent the harshness of the craft, conditions at the limit of the bearable that will lead him even to paint them in full strike, inspired by a work of François Coppée.

For more information, see the 2012 publication: L'Ecole d'Ecouen; Une Colonie de Peintres au XIXe Siecle (Bio sourced from AskArt)