Paul Victor Mathey 1844-1929

Son of a restaurateur, Paul Mathey learned his craft at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in the studios of the painters Léon Cogniet, Isidore Pils, and Alexis-Joseph Mazerolle. He began exhibiting at the Paris Salon from 1868 and became a well-regarded and appreciated portraitist, often portraying artists in their own studios.

Although primarily a portrait painter, Mathey did not confine himself to this genre; he also painted landscapes, seascapes, scenes from everyday life, and decorative works. Around the age of forty-five, during the debate between reproductive and original printmakers, he took up engraving. The Comité des Artistes Français, of which he was no longer a member, contested the title of engraver to those who did not work from another artist’s work, aiming to exclude them from the Salon and, at the very least, from awards. Mathey consulted Maxime Lalanne’s Traité de gravure à l’eau-forte, gathered the technical information he needed, retrieved a sketch from his notebooks, and engraved it himself. The result was a portrait of his father, which he had drawn about ten years earlier.

His work received several accolades: a third-class medal at the 1876 Salon, a second-class medal at the 1885 Salon, and a gold medal at the 1889 Exposition Universelle. He was also awarded the Legion of Honor on 29 October 1889. He produced engravings for L’Estampe nouvelle.

Works in Public Collections:

Brest, Musée des Beaux-Arts:

• Portrait of the painter Alfred Rubé, decorator of the Opera, oil on canvas

• Portrait of Mme Paul Mathey, oil on canvas

• Portrait of Mlle Marthe Mathey with a small dog, oil on canvas

• Le Mélomane, portrait of the artist’s father, oil on canvas

• Portrait of his brother Joseph, oil on canvas

Évreux, Musée d’Évreux:

• Bord de mer, drawing

Dieppe, Musée de Dieppe:

• Portrait of Camille Saint-Saëns at the piano, oil on canvas

• Landscape, oil on canvas

• Église Saint-Jacques viewed from the sub-prefecture, black pencil on paper

• La tour Saint-Jacques, black lead on heavy Ingres paper

• La plage de Dieppe, black pencil drawing

Gray, Musée Baron-Martin:

• La Plage, oil on wood, 49 × 65 cm

• Portrait of Mademoiselle Legout-Gérard, oil on canvas, late 19th century, 35 × 24.5 cm

Le Havre, Musée d’Art Moderne André Malraux:

• Un Pré – Baie de Concarneau, oil on canvas

Paris:

• Département des arts graphiques, Musée du Louvre: album of approximately one hundred sketches

• Musée d’Orsay:

  • Enfant et femme dans un intérieur, oil on canvas

  • Fernande Mathey on the beach, oil on canvas

  • Pierre Mathey, father of the artist, oil on canvas

Versailles, Musée de l’Histoire de France:

• Félicien Rops in his studio, oil on canvas

• René de Saint-Marceaux, oil on canvas