Image: Delphin Enjolras, A Candlelit Dinner.

For this weekend’s art post we chose an obscure French painter active during and after the fin de siècle.  It may not be the most compelling piece of art, but it does capture a certain late season outdoor dining feeling that D.C. can give us well into autumn.

The work is A Candlelit Dinner by Delphin Enjolras.  It looks like it was sold in a 2020 Sotheby’s auction and probably in private hands.  The painting is undated, but Enjolras was born in 1857 and was presenting work in the Paris Salon in 1890.  Born in southeast France, he studied in Paris and lived until the age of 88.  His work initially focused on landscape, but shifted to focus on women, often engaged in mundane activities like reading, sewing or playing the piano.   This painting has a little of both elements.  In later years, his work become less suggestive and more explicit.

Despite the gloom hanging around this week, we hope you will be able to savor a few nights of relaxed dining, perhaps with friends by candlelight and outdoors.  ‘

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If you are looking for ideas on where to do such dining, well we have that covered too!!  At least if you are in Washington, D.C. Our D.C. dining guide has more than 300 recommended restaurants that you can sort by cuisine, neighborhood, and current operating status (dine-in and/or take-out, etc.) in either LIST or MAP format.

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