Charles Joshua Chaplin (French, 1825 – 1891) “Nude”
Oil on Canvas 28 1/2 x 19 3/4 inches
Charles Chaplin was a French painter and print-maker who painted both landscapes and portraits. He worked in techniques such as pastels, lithography, watercolor, chalk, oil painting and etching. He was best known for his elegant portraits of young women.
Charles Joshua Chaplin was born on 8 June 1825 in Les Andelys, Eure, France. His mother, Olympia Adelle Moisy, was French, whereas his father, John Chaplin, was an art broker from England. Charles Chaplin spent his whole life in France, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1886. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1840, and he took private lessons in the studio of Michel Martin Drolling, whose apprentices included Paul Baudry, Jules Breton and Jean-Jacques Henner. Later he also taught at the cole des Beaux-Arts. In 1845, he entered the Paris Salon, the official art exhibition of the Academie des Beaux-Arts, as a portrait and landscape painter with the painting Portrait of the Artist’s Mother.
Chaplin conducted art classes specifically for women at his studio, including Marie Josephine Nicolas. The American artist Mary Cassatt, the French artist Louise Abbema and the English artist Louise Jopling were among Chaplin’s students. His son Arthur Chaplin was also a painter. Chaplin died on 30 January 1891 in, aged 65, Paris as a wealthy man and is buried in the Pare Lachaise Cemetery.
