Pair of portraits of a husband and wife. They have been together 130 years and are not sold separately.
Alexandre Saturnin Bertin was a French naturalist and portrait painter. He was born in Fécamp (Seine-Maritime) on June 12, 1853. He studied at the School of Fine Arts in Paris, pupil of Alexandre Cabanel. Talented portraitist, his debut as an artist was quite challenging and he only began to be recognized in 1875, when he won the end of year excellence prize at the School. He married Helen of Wolkoff in 1883, youngest daughter of General Principe Wolkoff, a military governor of St. Petersburg. He became a widower four years later, which plunged him into a deep sadness, overcome only with the help of painting. He married his second wife, Marie Augustine Jacquart, in 1914. Bertin exhibited regularly at the Salon of French artists, where he was a member until 1920, obtaining honorable mentions in 1888, 1889 and 1891. In 1900, he exhibited the painting "Ramasseuse de bois mort", work with which he attained notoriety. He died in Paris on March 1, 1934 at the age of 81 and is buried in the Père-Lachaise Cemetery (Division 75) with his first wife.
Artist: Alexandre Bertin (1853-1934).
Signed and dated in low left corner: ALEXANDRE BERTIN 1889.
Medium: Oil on canvas.
Condition: Very good condition. Signs of past inpainting.
Dimensions: 61 x 50 cm. / 24 x 19 3/4 in.
Frame: 69 x 58 cm. / 27 x 22 3/4 in. Wood, contemporary, very good condition.
Origin: France.