Portrait of the Singer Jean Elleviou
by BOILLY, Louis Léopold, Oil on panel, 54 x 41 cm
Jean Elleviou (1769-1842), an operatic tenor, was one of the most celebrated French singers of his time. He was famed for the remarkable sweetness and flexibility of his voice, and for his excellent diction.
Boilly’s portrait of Elleviou depicts the young singer in his role in Le Prisonnier or La Ressemblance, a comic opera in one act with music by Domenico Della-Maria and libretto by Alexendre Duval, which premiered at the Th�âtre Feydeau in 1798.
The painting was exhibited at the Paris Salon in July of 1798.