Certain of a face, searching for a life - Charles Obzée Duchemin, photograph by Jacques-Philippe Potteau,1862

 

Charles Obzée (actually Elizée?) Duchemin, Tambour-major des Zouaves de la Garde Impériale (Tambour Major of the Imperial Guard Zouaves.) Said to have been born in Sainte-Rose, Guadeloupe - a different record states Saint-Domingue, present-day Haiti - there is extremely little information available about his life online, and almost all of it wrong. He has been identified as of paternal French (Burgundian) and maternal Kalinago/Carib heritage. A frequently shared online source states that he was born in 1817, but that he was twenty-seven when the portraits were taken in 1862. So he would either be forty-five in that year, or would have to have been born in 1835 to have been that age. In the same year he sat for the photographer, he was said to have been "promoted to brigadier general, formally becoming the first Black general in the French Army." This last is a complete fabrication, seemingly an attempt to make him more "interesting," his life more dramatic. But then it appears that the internet has even gotten his name wrong.

He was indeed born in Sainte-Rose, Guadeloupe, on 25 May 1833. (Which would have made him twenty-nine in 1862, rather than twenty-seven.) His father is believed to have been Norman rather than Burgundian, and the Caribbean origins of his mother are in question. While it is unknown why and when he left Guadeloupe for France, he enlisted in the 7th Artillery Regiment in 1853 at the age of twenty. After several promotions and transfers to other regiments, he joined the Zouaves of the Garde Impériale on 1 January 1862 - the year of these portraits - where he remained for only five years, before being discharged in April 1867. But only three months later, he re-enlisted and rose rapidly in the ranks, eventually reaching the rank of captain, before his retirement in 1885; among other awards, he had been made a chevalier of the Légion d’honneur in 1881. He died on 11 July 1908 in Angers.

For more detailed information on his life and career, as well as a genealogy, please read this PDF (in French).

Wedgwood on a French mantlepiece? - Madame Danloux, by her husband, Henri-Pierre Danloux, circa 1790

 

The portrait of madame Danloux, née Marie-Pierrette-Antoinette de Saint-Rédan, was painted by her husband, Henri-Pierre Danloux, around 1790 at the Château de Passy, ​​near Villeneuve-le-Bois in the Yonne department, the property of the painter's sister-in-law, Anne-Marie-Louise comtesse de Sérilly. According to the son of the artist and madame Danloux, Guillaume-Simon-Pierre Jules Danloux, the painting was created in the room where he was born.

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On the chimneypiece is prominently displayed a jasperware sucrier by Wedgwood ornamented with a relief which appears to be a part of the "Domestic Employments" series of child groups designed by Emma Crewe. Between 1787 and 1818 she is thought to have produced various designs  - including the "Domestic Employments" series; usually featuring a small girl sewing or spinning - that were used on medallions, notably for jewelry, and often found on jasperware tea services. The matching teapot and cover displays a variant of a design from Lady Templetown's "Maternity" series. These designs by "lady artists" are all in much the same spirit, which has led to difficulties of attribution.

Dominique Daguerre, the famous marchand-mercier, had concluded an exclusive agreement with Wedgwood as early as 1787 for the marketing of the factory’s products in France. But he was also the exclusive agent for the Sèvres factory in London. He therefore worked in close collaboration with both factories, and with the jasperware technique being widely copied by the Sèvres manufacture, it is often difficult to determine the exact provenance of these various pieces. With the Revolution and the Empire, collaboration with the English manufacturer was suspended, and the Sèvres' production featuring "Wedgwood-style" decoration took over.

Lidded bowl (sucrier) and tea service, Wedgwood jasperware, 1787-90.

Lasciando da parte le follie della giovinezza - Study of a Boy in Profile, by Massimo Stanzione, circa 1620-25

 

Formerly in the collection of Rudolf Nureyev.

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Adapted from Wikipedia:

Massimo Stanzione (also called Stanzioni; 1585, Frattamaggiore or Orta di Atella - 1656, Naples), Italian Baroque painter. Mainly active in Naples, he and his rival Jusepe de Ribera dominated the local artistic landscape for several decades. He was primarily a painter of altarpieces, working in both oils and fresco, the latter usually for ceilings. His main subject matter was biblical scenes, but he also painted portraits and mythological subjects. He had many pupils and followers as his rich use of color and idealized naturalism had a large influence on other local artists. In 1621 Pope Gregory XV gave him the title of Knight of the Golden Spur, and Pope Urban VIII made him a knight of St. John around 1624 and then a knight of the Order of Christ in 1627. From that time, he enjoyed signing his works as EQUES MAXIMUS - "Supreme Knight."

Long lost Letty - in celebration of the reappearance of Joan Crawford's "Letty Lynton," portraits by Hurrell, 1932

 

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Letty Lynton is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film starring Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, and Nils Asther. Directed by Clarence Brown, the film was based on the 1931 novel of the same name by Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes, the novel being based on a historical murder case. The film has since become remembered for two divergent reasons. The first relates to the major fashion trend it inspired: Adrian's "Letty Lynton dress" - a white cotton organdy gown with large ruffled sleeves, puffed at the shoulder - was copied by Macy's department store and was said to have sold over 50,000 replicas nationwide. 

The second reason is that the film has been unavailable for ninety years. Edward Sheldon and Margaret Ayer Barnes, co-authors of 1930 play Dishonored Lady had sued MGM claiming plagiarism, and a federal district court ruled in 1936 that MGM's script had too closely followed that of the plaintiff's play. The legal battle continued, with the case eventually going all the way to U.S. Supreme Court who ruled in playwrights' favor, finding MGM guilty of copyright violation. The result was that the studio had to pay the plaintiffs one-fifth of the film's profit, while MGM was forbidden from exhibiting the film until Dishonored Lady fell out of copyright... on 1 January 2026. In April 2026, Warner Bros. - who now owns the film - announced that a 4K restoration of Letty Lynton had been completed and would be premiered - again - at the TCM Classic Film Festival in Los Angeles in May.

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These images - taken by Hurrell as publicity for Letty Lynton - are shared from Instagram posters realdavidstenn and jcjoancrawford

Simply precious - still-lifes by Blaise-Alexandre Desgoffe

 

1868. Nearly all of the titles for these paintings are nothing more than descriptive of the objects portrayed, so I'm only listing the dates, where known.

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1893.

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1868.

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1857.

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1887.

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Les Bijoux de la couronne, 1887.

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1878.

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1889.

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Circa 1900.

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1885.

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1897.

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La Table du collectionneur, 1869.

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1896.

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Œuvres d'art de la collection de Sir Richard Wallace, 1880.

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1896.

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1866.

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1869.

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Blaise-Alexandre Desgoffe (17 January 1830, Paris - 2 May 1901, Paris), French painter who specialized in highly finished, frequently very elaborate, still-life paintings. He was the nephew of the painter Alexandre Desgoffe and the father of the painter Jules Desgoffe. He studied under Hippolyte Flandrin and exhibited at the Paris Salon from 1857 to 1882; he was awarded a third-class medal in 1861 and a second-class medal in 1863. In 1878 he was made a chevalier of the Légion d'honneur. He was awarded a silver medal at the Exposition Universelle of 1900, the year before his death.