FRANCOIS-CLAUDIUS COMPTE-CALIX French, 1813-1880 Elegant Lady in Rococo Attire Mixed media on paper: watercolor, gouache, pencil Framed artwork, signed at base, features a full-length portrait of a woman dressed in an ornate, 18th-century style gown. The artwork is set within an oval mat. Framed. Not examined out of frame. 19 x 13.5 inches; frame: 26 x 21 inches $150-350
ARTIST PROFILE: François-Claudius Compte-Calix was born in Lyon on August 27, 1813, and died in Chazay d'Azergues, near Lyon, on July 29, 1880. He trained at the Beaux-Arts de Lyon from 1829 to 1833 under Professor Claude Bonnefond, later returning to the Academie to further his studies and teach drawing from 1835 to 1836. He debuted at the Salon de Lyon in 1837 with a watercolor and soon became a regular contributor to the Salons, first exhibiting at the Paris Salon in 1840. Compte-Calix became known as a painter of genre subjects, portraits, and romantic historical scenes. He exhibited portraits, romantic genre scenes, and anecdotal historical scenes, and became a very successful engraver, with a style of etching easily adapted to his paintings. He was commissioned to illustrate numerous books and several romantic books of poetry. He was also a prolific fashion-plate illustrator, with many of his designs published in French fashion periodicals like *Les Modes Parisiennes*. His painting "Vieil Ami," from 1863, was shown at the International Exhibition in Paris in 1867.
