Description:

Eugène Sans is an illusive but highly talented painter who was originally from the small town of Montauban, in the department of Tarn-et-Garonne. It is known that he was a student of Hippolyte Flandrin (1809 – 1864), the great Neoclassical painter, however sadly very little other information survives about him.

In this finely detailed painting of what must be a metalworkers workshop  (due to the tools hanging on the racks) a young artisan focuses on his work, unaware of the artists and our gaze. We can almost hear the rasp of the file as he draws it over the object in the vice. Unusually for this subject we do not see the forge which was a favourite subject matter of painters, instead the focus falls on the young man illuminated by the single window and flooding light onto the dim interior.

The verso of the canvas is marked with that of the ‘Ottoz Frères, Paris’ (R.N. Dame de Lorette 46./ Ottoz Frères/Md De Couleurs Fines/& Toiles & Tableaux Paris./ 6 ) who were active as dealers and colour suppliers from their address in the 9^th arrondissment from about 1859 until 1866, which gives this painting a date of circa 1860. The 6 at the bottom of the canvas would probably refer to the standard size of this particular canvas.