Charles Louis Müller

CHARLES LOUIS MÜLLER (Paris, 1815-1892).
"A beautiful reflection".
Oil on canvas.
Signed.
Provenance: for a time it was exhibited in the Museum of the Palace of Arts in Tbilisi because it belonged to the Georgian nobleman Andrei Dadiani.
Measurements: 65 x 50 cm; 77,5 x 62 x 8 cm (frame).

In this oil on canvas Charles Louis Müller portrays the body of a young woman that appears before the spectator holding a mirror, being able to be an allegory to the sight or to the vanity. A boy plays on her shoulder and amuses himself by covering his blond hair with the young woman's jet black, while also amusing himself with her pearl necklace. In the background, behind the parapet of a balcony, hollyhocks. The scene reveals a brushstroke, with which the author has composed the scene based on touches and broad brushstrokes that configure the sinuous forms of the woman. The light, totally directed, is centered on a central focus. It is a portrait of great instantaneity, similar to a fleeting vision captured from life, rather than a portrait calmly elaborated in a studio.

Charles Müller was a renowned portrait painter and decorator, known by his pseudonym Müller de Paris. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He began exhibiting his works at the Salon de France in 1834 and did not change this tradition until 1892. He later worked with the architect Hector Lefebvre to create a new Louvre for Napoleon III. Müller executed frescoes for the Salle d'État and the Galerie d'Apollon in the Louvre, as well as for the ceiling of the Salon Denon.