Louis Francois Cabanes (1867-1947) Architectural Oil Painting

Our client's framed oil on gessoed canvas by Louis Francois Cabanes (1867-1947) depicts a massive wall of a vaulted palace room decorated with painted ceiling, huge figurative bronze and marble sculpture in the neoclassical style.  Signed in lower right, "Louis CABANES élève de M. J.P. Laurens" (student of mister...) beneath and what appears to be a partial date (year) beneath in box.  Jean Paul Laurens (1838-1921), one of the last great history painters of France, was a teacher of Cabanes in Paris.  Stretcher measures approximately 26 by 37.5 inches and the period frame, 32 by 44 inches.  Canvas has been relined and there are apparent signs of inpainting.

Cabanes was a successful and respected illustrator and painter of figures, genre scenes, history and Orientalism.  He studied at the Ecoles de Beaux Arts of Toulouse and Paris under Jean Paul Laurens and L. Glaize.  He first exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1894 where he won several medals. He took part in the Paris Exposition Coloniale in 1906 and the Brussels Exposition of 1910 and continued to exhibit until 1936. He illustrated J. d'Ivray's Walks through Cairo. His works can be found in various museums throughout France including the Musee Massey in Tarbes, the Musee des Beaux-Arts in Carcassonne, among others.

Laurens is widely admired for his historical scenes and for his teaching at Academie Julian where his students included Frederic Porter Vinton, and Charles Yardley Turner.  He was the recipient of numerous commissions from the French Third Republic, including the vault of the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, a series on the life of Saint Genevieve for the apse of the Pantheon, the ceiling of the Odeon Theater and the hall of distinguished citizens at the capitol in Toulouse.  He also taught École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris where students included George Barbier and Dunoyer de Segonzac.