Gabriel-Joseph-Marie-Augustin Ferrier, French 1847-1914- Madame Ferrier; oil on canvas, signed 'Gabriel-Ferrier' (upper left), 65.2 x 54.2 cm. Provenance: Private Collection, UK. Note: The present work bears close resemblance to the similarly sized portrait of the artist’s wife by Gabriel Ferrier, ‘La Liseuse’, dated 1914, and held in Paris's Musée D'Orsay (Shurr and Cabanne, 'Dictionnaire des Petits Maitres de la Peinture 1820-1920', Paris, 2008, pp.424-5, illustrated). The sitter in the D’Orsay version is undeniably the same as in the present work, and theposition is nearly identical save for a few differences including the presence of a book in place of the pansies which appear here. See, also, Anon. sale, Christie's, New York, 25 October 2000, lot 103, for another largerposition featuring the same sitter. Ferrier worked in Paris and Rome and was the recipient of the prestigious Prix de Rome amongst other honours. He specialised in painting portraits of notable figures connected with the Third Republic, and in 1883 took an extended trip to Algeria, where he produced works in the Orientalist style.