Auguste Delécluse (1855-1928) - Portrait of the artist's son, Eugène Delécluse

Auguste-Joseph DELECLUSE
(Roubaix 1855 - Paris 1928)
Portrait of the artist's son, Eugène Delécluse
Oil on canvas
H. 98 cm ; L. 116 cm
Signed lower right
1903

Exhibition: 1903, Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, n°408 of the booklet, titled Portrait of my son

Born in Roubaix, Auguste Delécluse trained in the Parisian studios of Carolus-Duran, Weerts and Delance, whose tradition of apprenticeship he would later carry on. Essentially a portraitist, he presented his first painting at the Salon at the age of 25 and obtained a mention ten years later. If the name of Delécluse is known in the artistic world of the years 1880-1920, it is thanks to the Academy that he founded in Montparnasse, bearing his name, where he will be a teacher alongside his former master, Delance. Many women will be part of the students of this Parisian structure which will die out around the Great War.

In 1903, Auguste Delecluse presented five works at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, including our beautiful format, representing his son Eugène, then 21 years old.
Auguste had already exhibited paintings with his son as subject: a portrait of his wife and son at the Salon des Artistes Français of 1888 (number 769 in the booklet), a portrait of his son at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts of 1893 (number 325 in the booklet)
Seated at his work table in a studio, the young Eugene poses cross-legged, in an elegantly relaxed attitude, dressed in his large apron covering his suit, pencil in hand. His face is illuminated by a ray of light, as are the two touches of red on the tie and the binding, which subtly lift the ambient half-light of the room. In the very sober background, a jar of brushes stands out on a shelf.

In this same year 1903, Eugene participated for the first time in a Salon, that of the French Artists, with a drawing, and our painting corresponds perhaps to the pride of the father wishing to mark this official recognition of his son. The two artists lived at the same address, 84 rue Notre-Dame des Champs in Paris, which was also the address of the Académie Delécluse. Was the portrait painted in one of the rooms of the Academy, or in the family apartment, as the presence of the Henri II style chair might suggest?

Concerning the critical fortune of the work, the Journal des Artistes honors the father's work "... tall, beardless young man, seated at his work table, dressed in a smock [...] as would be an aspiring artist, a portrait striking with reality, also treated in the best style".
La Liberté is no less complimentary: "From Mr. Auguste Delecluse, two excellent portraits, one of which, that of his son, is painted in the most frank and accurate manner: one of the good portraits of the Salon.
Finally, L'Art : revue mensuelle illustrée speaks soberly of a "Good Portrait of my son by Mr. Auguste Delécluse".
In spite of this excellent reception, it seems that the painting did not find a buyer at the Salon; the stretcher indeed bears a handwritten inscription in English, Portrait of my son, by Auguste Delécluse. He was a frequent visitor to England, and it is possible that he brought the portrait with him to try to sell it to a British clientele.

Eugène Delécluse (Paris, 1882 - Villiers le Bel, 1972), a pupil of his father, Delance and Fernand Cormon, had an honest career as a painter, illustrator and engraver, participating regularly in the Salon from 1907. He produced mainly landscapes in a post-impressionist spirit, with many Breton subjects, but also Mediterranean, Parisian or English.