Simone Ramel

SIMONE RAMEL (Paris, 20th century - Nancy, 2013).
"Child portrait".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 73 x 54 cm; 80 x 60 cm (frame).
Painter who was mother of the also painter Pierre Ramel,. She was formed in the School of Fine Arts of Nancy. She participated in the Salon de Nancy and exhibited in Paris, provinces and abroad. She was a member of the Salon d'Automne. A very active artist, she founded the Salon des Femmes Painteurs in Nancy, as well as a free evening drawing course. Her distinctions include the Prize of the Women Painters of Paris, the Academic Palms, the Grand Gold Medal of the City of Nancy and the Arslonga Prize of Paris. She was vice-president of the Artists of Lorraine and the Friends of the Arts.
As in the rest of Europe, the portrait became in the 19th century the leading genre par excellence in Spanish painting, as a consequence of the new social structures that were implemented in the Western world throughout this century, embodying the maximum expression of the transformation of taste and mentality of the new clientele, emerged between the nobility and the wealthy gentry, who would take the reins of history in this period. While official circles gave preponderance to other artistic genres, such as history painting, and the incipient collecting encouraged the profusion of costume paintings, portraiture monopolized the demand for painting destined for the more private sphere, as a reflection of the value of the individual in the new society. This genre embodies the permanent presence of the image of its protagonists, to be enjoyed in the intimacy of a studio, in the daily warmth of a family cabinet or presiding over the main rooms of the house.