Alexandre-Jean Dubois-Drahonet. A rediscovered talent

Alexandre Dubois-Drahonet has already been the subject of several articles in La Tribune de l’Art, notably on the occasion of gallery exhibitions and museum acquisitions. We hoped that one day he would be better known, and fortunately this is the case thanks to the Musée Lambinet, which is devoting an exhibition to him.

The artist is essentially a portraitist. This was not so often the case in the 19th century: if the exhibition catalogue is to be believed, he never painted any religious scenes, mythological pictures or even landscapes. Only four paintings (perhaps there are more but they have not been identified) break this pattern: two nudes belonging to the Stair Sainty gallery in London, which we already mentioned when they were shown at the Maastricht fair (see article), and two small paintings of interior scenes, both shown in the exhibition: one painted in the church of Saint-Symphorien in Versailles, the other depicting General Colbert in his cell (ill. 1), the latter having been imprisoned for a very short time at the time of the Restoration for having rallied to Napoleon during the Hundred Days.

1. Alexandre-Jean
Dubois-Drahonet (1790-1834)
The General Count Édouard Colbert
Imprisoned in 1816 during the Restoration, 1818
Oil on canvas - 39.5 x 34 cm
France, private collection
Photo: Thierry Ollivier

See the image in its page

2. Alexandre-Jean
Dubois-Drahonet (1790-1834)
Princess Louise d’Artois
on the Beach at Dieppe, 1830
Oil on canvas - 178 x 145 cm
Wilmington, The Horvitz Collection
Photo: Galerie Alexis Bordes

See the image in its page

Portraits, then, almost exclusively, hang on the picture rails of the Musée Lambinet. And as we expected, they show an artist capable of great achievements, although this observation must be qualified. The painter is in fact uneven, sometimes producing slightly weaker works. We will try to illustrate this article only with his best paintings. It should be noted, however, that…