Philippe Jolyet

(1832 - 1908)

La Boite aux Lettres

Signed and dated, lower right: Ph. Jolyet/1904
Oil on canvas
56 x 27½ in – 142.2 x 70 cm
Frame size
64¼ x 35¾ in – 163.2 x 90.8 cm

Tel.: +44 (0)20 7839 7693

Provenance

Private collection, USA;
MacConnal-Mason Gallery, London, 1999;
Private collection, UK

Biography

A genre and portrait painter, Philippe Jolyet liked to paint often on a grand scale. He entered the l’Ecole des Beaux-Arts on 6th April 1854 and became a pupil of the formidable historical and portrait painter Léon Cogniet (1794-1880), a man who amongst his many attributes was responsible for the decor in Versailles and the Louvre.

He debuted at the Paris Salon of 1863, exhibiting regularly there over many years, and he received an honourable mention in 1885 and a bronze medal in 1889 at the Exposition Universelle. He painted a number of theatrical scenes of monks and portraits of girls, often confidently painted in a ‘soft’ style very similar to that of Camille-Jean-Baptiste Corot (1796-1875).

His works can be found in museums: Bayonne; Chalon-Sur-Saone; Dijon; Paris, Louvre Galerie Roussel; Rouen and Tournus.

Philippe Jolyet