Charles Chaplin, from "L'Artiste"
Not on view
This portrait accompanied an article on the painter Charles Chaplin, seemingly prompted by his increased notoriety following the rejection of his painting of a female nude by the Salon jury in 1859. Chaplin appeared frequently in the pages of "L'Artiste" as a contributor. The journal published his first etchings in 1847 and lithographs after works he exhibited in the Salons of 1849 and 1851. Around this time, Chaplin shifted his focus from painting realist genre pictures to portraiture in a softer style inspired by eighteenth-century artists, such as Jean-Baptiste Greuze. Vidal, on whose drawing this print is based, also worked as a celebrated portraitist from the 1840s through 1870s.