Cache-Cache by Paul-Charles Chocarne-Moreau

Paul-Charles Chocarne-Moreau
1855-1931 | French

Cache-Cache
(Hide and Seek)

Signed "Chocarne-Moreau" (lower right)
Oil on canvas

A group of jovial altar boys engage in a rousing game of hide and seek in this lighthearted oil on canvas. Composed by the French painter Paul-Charles Chocarne-Moreau, the work embodies the artist's popular genre paintings that captured the roguish, playful nature of his young subjects. Enduringly charming, his anecdotal scenes continue to entertain viewers to this day.

The oil is a particularly fine example of a popular genre of art from the period, which captured the lives of working-class children. During an otherwise serious time in the history of art, Chocarne-Moreau and his cheerful canvases delighted at the French Salon, and he masterfully applied the French Academic style to his uniquely humorous works. The level of detail imparted into the scene is masterful, from the tapestries and rugs to the lace of one altar boy's robes. Executed with a wonderful sense of realism, the work exhibits Chocarne-Moreau’s skill for capturing texture, color and detail in each and every brushstroke. 

Born in Dijon in 1855, Paul-Charles Chocarne-Moreau was formally trained at the Académie des Beaux-Arts under the direction of William Bouguereau and Tony Robert-Fleury. These Academic greats would have a profound influence on the young painter, and their incredible attention to detail and use of color pervades Chocarne-Moreau's oeuvre. Beginning in 1882, Chocarne-Moreau became a popular and regular exhibitor at the Salon, receiving an Honorable Mention in 1886. His humorous and anecdotal works have led many to mark him as an important forerunner to the American painter and storyteller Norman Rockwell, and his works remain both important and admired today.

Canvas: 32" high x 26" wide
Frame: 42" high x 35 1/2" wide