Théodore Chassériau and The Two Sisters

'The Two Sisters' (1843) by Théodore Chassériau;
Musée du Louvre, Paris

Although there was not a lot to choose from today, I could have chosen this painting by German Impressionist painter Max Slevogt who had his date of death today. Instead I made a quick decision to do a post on French painter Théodore Chassériau, born on 20 September 1819, because when googling the images of his paintings, I immediately took a liking to this painting of two sisters, better than the paintings I've seen by Slevogt. Born in the Dominican Republic, Chassériau moved to Paris with his family and entered the studio of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres at the age of eleven. He remained there till Ingres left for Rome to head the Académie de France in 1834. He fell under the influence of Eugène Delacroix and attempted to combine Delacroix's romantic colour with Ingres's classical grace. He made his debut at the Paris Salon in 1836 with several portraits and received a third-place medal in the category of history painting. He fell out of favour with Ingres after he met him in Rome in 1840 because Ingres didn't like the direction his student's work was taking. Today's painting is a portrait of Chassériau's two sisters, Adèle and Aline. His relationship with his sisters was so close that it had been described as 'almost amorous'. Click here for further reading on his sisters.