Game room

Reynaldo Hahn’s bridge table

Playing Cards

PORTRAIT OF HENRI ZO AS A CHILD • ACHILLE ZO

An eight-year-old boy, firmly planted on his legs with his thumbs tucked into his belt: this is how the painter Jean Baptiste Zo, known as Achille Zo, depicts his son, Henri-Achille. Despite his childlike rounded face and characteristic age-appropriate attire, the boy poses like an adult, confident in himself. The figure of his son is illuminated by a strong side lighting, which he also uses in most of his portraits. This warm light, combined with the shadow cast in the lower right corner of the painting, emphasizes the assertive pose of the young man, slightly turned three-quarters, in this nearly life-size full-length portrait.

Born into a modest family in the Basque Country, Achille Zo decided at a young age to become a painter. He lived in Paris until 1871 and the siege of the city. He then decided to return to his native region, where he was appointed director of the Bayonne School of Drawing until 1888. He also founded, in 1873, the municipal painting museum of which he became the curator. In 1889, he was appointed director of the Bordeaux School of Fine Arts. Like Léon Bonnat, he was appointed a Knight of the Legion of Honor in 1886. These two men were closely connected: they trained a whole generation of regional painters at the Bayonne School of Drawing and later at the School of Fine Arts in Paris.

PORTRAIT OF CARLE DREYFUS AS A CHILD • LÉON BONNAT

Born in Bayonne, Léon Bonnat pursued his painting studies in Madrid, where his family resided. He aspired to be a history painter, but when he exhibited the Portrait of Adolphe Thiers in 1877, its success was such that he dedicated himself to official painting and became the portraitist of the Third Republic. Political figures and high society frequented his studio: from Victor Hugo and Renan to Cardinal Lavigerie and Armand Fallières. Bonnat's skilled and meticulous technique could rival the realism of photography; he also enjoyed playing with light, creating shadows to enhance contrast.

In the traditional costume worn by young boys—white with a sailor collar—Léon Bonnat chose to depict the son of his close friend Gustave Dreyfus (1837-1914). Like his father, the child would become a prominent collector and serve as a curator at the Louvre Museum. In this portrait, the artist captures the boy at the age of 4, bust-length, facing forward, with bright eyes, slightly swollen and circled, high and round cheekbones accentuated by touches of pink paint. He spontaneously captures the child's expression in a swift, sketched manner. Through this portrait, Léon Bonnat demonstrates his ability to convey the nuances of childhood expressions.

PORTRAIT OF MRS. CASTEX AND HER SON • DANIEL LÉON SAUBÈS

A painter of the 19th century belonging to the French art school, Léon Saubès (1855-1922) was a great enthusiast of portraiture, genre scenes, and history painting. A student of Léon Bonnat in Paris, he regularly exhibited in the capital as well as extensively in the provinces such as Lyon, Biarritz, and Bayonne.

The dimensions of this painting and the way the two protagonists are portrayed, full-length and in elegant costumes, affirm it as a ceremonial portrait. Saubès likely received a commission from the Castex family for its creation and presented this large-scale work at the Salon in 1885. The child is dressed in knickerbockers, a puffy breeches tightened mid-calf, resembling a young British lord, reflecting the growing Anglomania among the French aristocracy and upper bourgeoisie in the second half of the 19th century. The little boy clings to his mother, who places her right hand on her son's shoulder. This protective gesture also suggests that the child is the heir to an affluent and established family.