Core Record

The Russell-Cotes painting of The Cardinal is typical of Gaston de Latouche's work at the turn of the century. It exhibits the bright colouring and atmospheric ambiance that became his hallmark, applied to a contemporary subject evoked with a character of nostalgia for the eighteenth-century past. Its religious subject is not unusual within Gaston's oeuvre, which includes numerous church interiors imbued with mysterious light. Evidently he delighted in painting the convoluted forms of Gothic tracery as well as the brilliant effects of light streaming through clear and stained glass as seen in the Russell-Cotes painting. As one contemporary critic, Henri Frantz, observed in The International Studio of June 1908: §La Touche is a colourist, a great colourist. Very personal, quite independent as to his technique [...] his highly personal colour harmonies never fail to impress one, no matter what the nature of his work may be. He has a particular affection for the yellows which spring from wainscoated rooms with furniture gilded by the sunlight, subdued by window blinds or heavy damask hangings; he loves the haloes of soft light made by the pink lamp-shades on restaurant tables, the mingling of tones shimmering above the stained glass windows of chapels.§

The Russell-Cotes painting is signed and dated 1898, that is the year Gaston was reaching the height of his fame as a leading French painter. In 1900 he received both a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle and the Legion of Honour. The painting is inscribed with the location of its production, §Saint Cloud§, in the countryside near Paris where the artist kept a studio.