This painting depicts a charming genre scene. It immerses us in a gallery of the 1874 Salon, where many visitors are gathered: young elegant women accompanied by a little girl; an older woman consulting the Salon catalog; three men contemplating the densely hung paintings on the wall facing them.
Camille-Léopold Cabaillot-Lassalle, who trained in his father's studio, was already familiar with the Salon by this time, regularly sending works depicting refined Parisian women in a style reminiscent of James Tissot or Alfred Stevens. This work was also destined for the Salon, where it was exhibited from its opening on May 1, 1874.
Because this Salon had not yet taken place, the artist is not transcribing an observed scene here, but rather anticipating it, creating a truly unique work without equivalent. The paintings depicted on the wall reproduce works actually exhibited at the 1874 Salon.
At the actual event, the work immediately caused a sensation: “perhaps the most original painting in the Salon,” exclaimed critics, calling it “strange,” “very curious,” and “unparalleled.” The painting intrigues and fascinates, drawing viewers into a miniature world where they “expect to see themselves passing by in the painting,” noted another critic. With a dizzying attention to detail, the artist even waited until the Salon opened and the catalog was published to inscribe on the miniature frames the exact exhibition numbers of the paintings depicted.
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