Alexis Pierre MILON 
  (Rouen, 1784 – After 1858)

 View of one of the side aisles of the apse of Saint-Germain-des-Prés

 Oil on canvas
 Signed and dated lower left
 50.5 x 34.5 cm
 1838

Exhibition:
  
 Paris Salon of 1839 under number 1512

 A certain Milon exhibited a set of drawn portraits in Paris as early as 1808. Was he already our artist? The question arises because his next appearance at the Salon would not take place until nineteen years later in 1827 with several oil paintings representing architectural views taken from nature. He would make this his specialty in addition to interior views of religious buildings, like our painting.
 Milon exhibited at the Salons in Paris, Douai, Cambrai, Valenciennes, Rouen, Boulogne-sur-Mer, La Rochelle and Lyon very regularly between 1822 and 1858, with several paintings each year.
 Registered as a "student of Citizen David" at the Academy in Paris on 6 Frimaire Year XI (November 1802), he was also a student of Bertin. He is also said to have been an architect. More reliably, he was known as a private teacher of drawing and painting.

 Our painting, which bears several traces of exhibition labels, was presented at the Paris Salon of 1839 under the number 1512 and entitled View of one of the aisles of the apse of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The critics noted the qualities of the painting as evidenced by this extract from the Journal des beaux-arts et de la littérature dated 1839: "M. Lesaint continues to exhibit good works. His Interior View of Amiens Cathedral is full of truth; the tone of the rich woodwork is vigorous and harmonious, and the large vaults are of a beautiful color. The interiors of M. Milon are distinguished by the same qualities, and we must cite his View taken in the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, and that taken in the Church of Saint-Gervais." The Salon booklet stipulates that the work is the property of the artist.

 The Cambrai museum has a Church Interior by him, and the Rouen museum has an Interior of Saint-Etienne-du-Mont.