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, with like witnesses Théophile Emmanuel Duverger and Charles Edouard Frère. Like many, he was a pupil of Léon Cogniet and soon exhibited, from 1847, with the 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.and one of second class in 1882, 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.

About this painting, Nicolas Pierrot analyzes that the painter adopts "a pyramidal composition. At the bottom are represented several groups of workers (maneuvers to moulders), while the top, in the center of the painting, is confused with the figure of the master founder "(in Painting in the factory). While many artists at this time chose this topical subject for their canvas, the critic of Paris Modern in 1882 recognizes that the one who "has succeeded the best, although he has lost a bit to want to render effects of elusive light "is Paul Soyer.

Another critic, Lambert, in connection with his two paintings exhibited at the Salon of 1887, states that "the science of arrangement disputes it in the quest for harmony. Everything is just, fine, precise. As a man who knows a great deal, he has no faintness but charm in the honest calm of these brave men."

His Lacemakers of Asnieres-sur-Oise, a charming picture of a vigorous color, are equally successful, to the point of being acquired by the State in 1865; after its exhibition at the Salon; they will enchant the visitors of the 1867 World Exhibition, then the Munich Fine Arts Fair in 1879, before charming the regular visitors of the Luxembourg Museum between 1866 and 1892; the painting will then be deposited at the Grand Chancellery of the Legion of Honor. Restoration works later retained it in the Louvre between 1958 and 1967, to finally be offered to the public in all its beauty at the Musée d'Orsay.

It is pointed out in Le Temps, June 6, 1865, that one can see the cure of Ecouen, but "whose hands are barely sketched" was the Abbe Chevallier, who wrote a very documented on the town of Ecouen, and which recovered the base of the equestrian statue of the Connétable, melted at the Revolution, to have it placed in the foundations of the new porch of the church of Saint-Acceul.

For more information, see the book "L'Ecole d'Ecouen - A Colony of Painters in the 19th Century" (Bio sourced from AskArt)