Portrait of Marie d'Estienne, the artist's wife

Marie's family came from Carcassonne, and came to Paris where they made their living extracting the jelly from horses' hooves, used in the photographic development process. As a young man Henry went, like many painters, to Brittany in order to paint.He considered himself an old-school painter, and the Impressionists as upstarts. Henry's work was displayed in the Louvre, including a triptych of a Brittany wedding. He also went to Algeria where he painted beautiful women. Henry was a womaniser which caused Marie a good deal of misery. This picture was left to the present owner by the daughter of Henry and Marie.