Édouard Vuillard (1868-1940)

According to Antoine Salomon and Guy Cogeval, "Vuillard's brother, Alexandre, known in the family as Miquen, was an important presence in the artist's life after the First World War...Here, Miquen is shown laid up in bed in his brother's room, where he convalesced between 16 November 1921 and 3 January 1922. On 27 January 1922, Vuillard noted in his Journal: 'largely redraw Parvu Miquen painting'; and on 10 February: 'work [in the] morning [on] Parvu painting[,] move drawing of chest of drawers 4 cm.' The foreshortened chest of drawers on the left...harks back to the simplified, compact forms of Vuillard's Nabi style. Dr. Parvu, easily recognisable from his crew-cut hair and short, clipped beard, was the Romanian assistant of Dr. Henri Vaquez, and the author of a dissertation on the treatment of cardiovascular syphilis. He became one of Vuillard's confidants in the 1920s" (op. cit.). The first owner of La Consultation was Dr. Parvu, who received this painting as a gift from Vuillard on 29 March 1922.