Pierre-Nicolas Brisset (French, 1810-1890)
Portrait of Monsieur Merley, dressed as a dandy

signed and inscribed 'A Merley / par Brisset' (lower left); bears inscription 'Munificenza del Signor Merley' (on the backing)
watercolour with pencil
Unframed: 28 x 23 cm. (11 x 9 in.)

Charles Saunier (1865-1941), Paris (L.567b)
Seymour & Zoya Slive, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Sale; Sotheby's, New York, 25 January 2023, lot 294

Pierre-Nicolas Brisset (1810-1890) was a painter of historical, religious, and mythological scenes, as well as portraits and landscapes. A pupil of Louis-Charles-Auguste Couder and François-Édouard Picot, he won the Prix de Rome in 1840 with Caius Gracchus, Summoned by the Senate, Leaves for Rome and painted the acclaimed Saint Lawrence Displaying the Treasures of the Church during his stay at the French Academy in Rome (1841-1845). Back in France, he executed murals in Parisian churches, the Grand Théâtre in Geneva, and private hotels, helped restore Fontainebleau frescoes, and designed the 100-franc Banque de France note (1862-1923). Brisset was also an influential teacher, with pupils including Henri Gervex.