François Maurice LARD - Portrait of the actor Raphaël Duflos as Ruy Blas

François Maurice LARD
Paris, 1864 – Paris, 1908
Portrait of the actor Raphaël Duflos as Ruy Blas
Oil on canvas
55 x 38 cm (67 x 49 cm with frame)
Signed and dated upper right "FM Lard / 96"
Beautiful antique gilt rod
Very good condition
On view at the gallery

Portrait of Raphaël Duflos in 1896, the year he became a member of the Comédie Française. He is depicted here as a younger man, in one of his first successful roles, that of Ruy Blas in Ruy Blas, performed at the Comédie Française in 1885 (Revue des Deux Mondes, September 14, 1885). A student at the Worms Conservatory, Émile-Henri Duflos, known as Raphaël Duflos, graduated with a first prize in Comedy. He made his debut at the Odéon in 1882, where a year later, alongside Albert-Lambert, he starred in François Coppée's memorable creation of Severo Torelli.
In 1884, he made his debut at the Comédie-Française in the role of Don Carlos (Hernani), then in Don Jual of Austria (the role of Philip II) and Ruy Blas (successively Ruy Blas and Don Sallust). Between 1887 and 1894, he played modern seducers and leading men of melodrama on the boulevards. He returned to the Comédie-Française in 1894 and was appointed a member of the Comédie-Française in 1896 (he then played Alceste in The Misanthrope, Octave in The Caprices of Marianne, Louis XIII in Marion Delorme, and Dom Juan in Henri III et sa cour). Appointed professor at the Conservatoire in 1910, his students included Maurice Escande and Annie Ducaux. He retired in 1924 and was appointed an honorary member of the Comédie-Française in 1925.
"Raphael Duflos, secretary in 1896, first prize winner, a student of Worms, did not have the patience to wait for his appointment as a member; he left the Comédie-Française
where he had successfully played Don Sallust [and Ruy Blas] in Ruy Blas, and Philip II in Don Juan of Austria, and where a brilliant future likely awaited him." Among his various creations on stages other than the Vaudeville, where he distinguished himself in Renée, le Père and L'Affaire Clémenceau, and especially in Mensonges, let us recall Barnabo Spinola, by Severo Torelli, at the Odeon. Duflos has warmth and strength; his performance is sober and correct. He is an actor of real talent that the management of the Gymnase has managed to attract. (Actors and Actresses of Paris, by Adrine Larique, 29th edition, 1897)
 

Ref: 8RA1B3ALQN