Geo Roussel (1860-1928) “Portrait of an Elegant Woman”

Georges Roussel known as Géo Roussel, “Portrait of an Elegant Woman”, oil on wood panel signed lower right Géo Roussel.
This beautiful painting depicts an elegant young Parisian woman getting ready to go out: she has stopped in front of a small table to cut a small bouquet from a beautiful bunch of flowers to pin on her coat. She is wearing a beautiful blue coat with a fur collar, white gloves and a hat with a veil. The colors are exceptionally beautiful, highlighted by a recent cleaning at a Parisian restoration laboratory. The painting has a splendid contemporary frame in wood and golden pastiglia.

Measure
Panel cm 41 x 33
Frame cm 54 x 62

BIOGRAPHY OF THE PAINTER
Georges Roussel or Geo Roussel, born on December 19, 1860 in Beauvais and died on March 29, 1928 in La Seyne-sur-Mer, is a French painter of genre and history.
Son of Joseph Eugène Roussel, a glass painter, and Adélaïde Marguerite Lecarpentier, resident in Beauvais. He married Lucienne Jeanne Savoie on May 26, 1896, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris.
A scholarship holder from the Oise department of the School of Fine Arts in Paris, he was a student of Alexandre Cabanel, Théodore Maillot and William Bouguereau. He was the first to graduate from this school. He holds 14 prizes and 2 special prizes in addition to the diploma prize in decorative arts; having come first in the competition for teachers of the city of Paris, he won the competition for the decoration of the town hall of the 14th arrondissement.
He exhibited, from 1886 to 1923, at the Salon des Artistes Français and, in 1889, obtained an honorable mention for a painting, purchased by the State, located in the museum of Beauvais; In 1892, he received a scholarship for his painting “The Body of Marceau Returned to the French Army” purchased by the State and exhibited at the Amiens Museum. In the following salons he exhibited many of his works, “The Vigil of Wagram”, “Families and Maternity”, paintings belonging to the General Council of the Seine, as well as various portraits. In 1898 he received the second medal out of competition for the work “L’Empereur” purchased by the State and in 1900 he exhibited “The Camp of Boulogne, Institution of the Legion of Honor”, a work belonging to the Château d’Écouen.
At the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1889 he received a mention for the painting “The Funeral Vigil of the Virgin” and at that of 1900 he received the bronze medal.
He produced several decorative canvases including the ceilings of the 1904 Universal Exhibition in Saint-Louis, the decoration of the town council hall of Ivry-sur-Seine with the work “The Day After the Storming of the Bastille”, the decoration of the wedding hall of the town hall of Charenton-le-Pont at the request of the department of the Seine.
He was a member of the Society of French Artists and general secretary of the society in 1906.
He frequented the young seaside resort Paris-Plage, where he met painters such as Édouard Lévêque, Émile Maillard and Georges Le Febvre.
He stayed in Luzancy, like many other artists, where he bought the property Les Vieux Toits where another painter, Charles Gosselin, also stayed.
In 1926 and 1927 he was an active and resident member of the Var Academy, based in Les Chênes in Tamaris-sur-Mer.
He died on March 29, 1928, in the Tamaris district of La Seyne-sur-Mer in the Var department.