(Lausanne 1865–1925 Paris)
Lost in Thoughts, c. 1887, signed F. Vallotton, oil on canvas, 55 x 46 cm, framed

Provenance:
J. C. Brons, The Hague;
European Private Collection.

Catalogued and illustrated in:
Marina Ducrey and Katia Poletti, Félix Vallotton (1865-1925): L’oeuvre peint, catalogue raisonné, Lausanne: Fondation Félix Vallotton, Zurich: Institut suisse pour l’étude de l’art, Milan: 5 Continents Editions., 2005, vol. II, p. 39, n. 63.

We are grateful to Marina Ducrey of the Fondation Félix Vallotton, Lausanne, for kindly confirming the authenticity on the basis of a high-resolution photograph and providing the catalogue entry for this lot.

It was a pleasant surprise to discover this charming portrait, a painting that was thought to have been lost for over forty years. It was only a bad black-and-white photograph and erroneous technical information found on an old archive card that served as reminders of its existence. The graphic features of the signature indicate that it was painted around 1887.
It is, however, undated and that therefore rules out the possibility that it is one of the commissioned portraits mentioned by Vallotton in his Livre de Raison or repertoire of his works, which he kept from 1885 until his death. It differs from the latter by its vivid colours and an unprecedented spontaneity.
We will probably never know the identity of this character depicted by Vallotton with such empathy and attention to detail. The youthful oval of the beardless face with its matte complexion, which possibly suggests a woman dressed as a man, is framed by thick brown hair. Its division on the forehead points to a long but fine nose surmounting a mouth with slightly pink lips. The young man is dressed with an elegance that is sophisticated yet casual. He wears a red waistcoat with gold lapels and double buttons over a white shirt with a half-open collar. A symmetrical alignment of gold buttons also holds the lapels of the jacket, the dark green matching that of the carelessly knotted tie and complementing the colour of the waistcoat. The sophisticated clothing rules out the possibility that the model is the son of Vallotton‘s concierge at 60 rue des Saints-Pères, whose portrait he notes having painted in 1889. The careful execution of the painting also distinguishes it from the „pochade portraits“ he painted of several of his fellow students at the Académie Julian in Paris. However, we see in this melancholic adolescent a budding artist, poet, writer or even painter, perhaps exiled in Paris with the young Vallotton, a contemporary with whom he would have sympathised.

Marina Ducrey
Fondation Félix Vallotton, Lausanne