Ferdinand Bassot (1843-1900)

Portrait of an Officer - Circa 1870

Portrait of an officer of the French army. He is seated with his hands resting on a sabre. In the background, a mountainous landscape and a camp of tents and soldiers can be seen. Oil on canvas executed around 1870, signed and dedicated in the lower right corner. Signs of past restoration.

Pierre François Ferdinand Bassot was a French painter of portraits and genre scenes. He was born on 29 December 1843 in Besançon (Franche-Comté). Son and grandson of watchmakers, he first apprenticed as an engraver and then as a decorator. After a period at the École des Beaux-Arts in Besançon, he worked as a house painter in Paris and then in Montbéliard, returning to Besançon in 1863. He moved back to Paris, where he entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and was a pupil of Isidore Pils, Louis Matout and Louis Français.

He exhibited regularly at the Salon des Artistes from 1870 to 1900, receiving an honourable mention in 1881.

Ferdinand Bassot died in Paris on 17 June 1900 at the age of 56 and was buried in the Montparnasse cemetery.

Sources: Benezit, Dictionary of Artists; Archives de France.

Artist: Ferdinand Bassot (1843-1900).
Signed in the lower right corner.
Medium: Oil on canvas.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 32.5 x 24.5 cm. / 12 ¾ x 9 ¾ in.
Frame: Unframed.
Origin: France.