Lot Essay
Roybet first exhibited at the salon in 1864. His early training was in the atelier of the genre painter Geoges Vibert. Like Vibert, Roybet took great care in depicting his models in elegant costume. Most of his figures are portrayed in 16th or 17th century dress.
La Sarabane was praised when it was exhibited at the Salon of 1895. The critic L. Benedite commented in his review:
"...a young and dashing cavalier sits on the corner of a table thrumming a mandoline, while two children, very prettily dressed, are dancing a pavan under their mother's rather absent-minded gaze. It is, of course, quite needless to praise the artists's incomparable dexterity; he has no rivals but M. Carolus Duran of Benjamin Constant in dazzling us with splendid stuffs, luxurious rooms, and all the splendor of things inanimate. It might even be said that, this year, the learned painter has found on his palette some choicer tones than usual, in the reminiscence of cartain masters whose names occur in spite of ourselves as we look at this composition, A Saraband (L. Bndite, Salon of 1895, Paris, pp. 43-44)
La Sarabane was praised when it was exhibited at the Salon of 1895. The critic L. Benedite commented in his review:
"...a young and dashing cavalier sits on the corner of a table thrumming a mandoline, while two children, very prettily dressed, are dancing a pavan under their mother's rather absent-minded gaze. It is, of course, quite needless to praise the artists's incomparable dexterity; he has no rivals but M. Carolus Duran of Benjamin Constant in dazzling us with splendid stuffs, luxurious rooms, and all the splendor of things inanimate. It might even be said that, this year, the learned painter has found on his palette some choicer tones than usual, in the reminiscence of cartain masters whose names occur in spite of ourselves as we look at this composition, A Saraband (L. Bndite, Salon of 1895, Paris, pp. 43-44)