Adrien Ferdinand De Braekeleer [1818-1904]
Belgium
The conversation, 1870
Oil on mahogany panel
13-3/4 x 10-7/8 inches [unframed]
Signed and dated at lower middle bottom margin : ‘Adrien DeBraekeleer / 1870’.

Artist signed and dated on verso : ‘Adrien DeBraekeleer / 1870’.

Exhibited as The Conversation.

Marking type: Darkened horizontal rectangular label cut with an angle sloping from upper right to lower left.
Location: Lower-center verso.
Text: ‘A. DEBRACKELEER. / 242 The Conversation. / The effect of this small canvas by the Master is humble, finish all that could be desired in a genunnely [sic] fine cabinet painting’.

Marking type: Artist signed in white paint.
Location: Center verso.
Text: ‘Adrien DeBraekeleer / 1870.’.

Marking type: Etched or deeply written name in script [possible owner?].
Location: Upper center verso.
Text: ‘Mr. Williams[?]’.

CONDITION:
Unrestored original condition with heavy craquelure throughout the painting.  Some minor paint loss.

DESCRIPTION:
Belgium genre painter Adrien Ferdinand de Braekeleer [1818-1904] was known for his depictions of inns, hand-craft industry, interiors and family. The artist widely exhibited throughout Antwerp and Ghent, Belgium. In The conversation, 1870, the artist shows a woman sitting talking with a man during the evening while he smokes his pipe.

PROVENANCE:
2020 ( David Smernoff, New Haven, CT & New York, NY ) ;
1870 Adrien Ferdinand De Braekeleer [1818-1904], the artist .

EXHIBITION:
2020 David Smernoff, New York, NY, “Tiny moments : the life of genre painting”, November 15 – December 31.