10. Louis-Joseph Fanelli-Semah (French, 1804-1875)

Portrait of a Gentleman with a Top Hat.
Oil on canvas; applied signature lower left and dated 1830; framed, 16-1/2" x 10-3/4".

Fanelli-Semah (who signed his work "Fanelli") studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris under the distinguished French Romantic painter, Antoine Jean Gros (1771-1835), who was himself a pupil of the great Neoclassicist Jacques-Louis David. Fanelli exhibited regularly at the French Salon from 1831 to 1853, and was quite an adventurous artist. The variety of subject matter he chose to exhibit at the annual Salons attests to his versatility. He exhibited portraits, genre scenes, history paintings, and in his later years, religious subjects. The last work he exhibited in 1853 was a miniature fruit still life painted in oil. Portraits by Fanelli are in the collections at Versailles and the museum at Toulon, the artist's hometown.

1,500/3,000     SOLD: $1,265.00

Condition: Recently cleaned and varnished; multiple old restorations over all; probably cut down from a larger canvas; signature and date glued in position, presumably cut from original canvas; 2" tear upper left.