Playing Guess Who in Paul Ferdinand Gachet’s Family Album

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This family album comes from the archive of Paul Ferdinand Gachet (1828–1909), a French doctor, a collector and friend of Cézanne and Van Gogh, but also an amateur artist who painted under the pseudonym Paul Van Ryssel. The album was organized, annotated and augmented by his son Paul-Louis Gachet (1873–1962), a painter and sculptor who practiced his art under the pseudonym Louis Van Ryssel.

Some photographs are rather easy to identify, like these two portraits of the doctor Paul Ferdinand Gachet:

Some photographs bear inscriptions, like the ones found on the back of the portrait of Marguerite Gachet, the daughter of Doctor Gachet, which reads: ”À mon frère, souvenir affectueux de sa soeur et amie, Marguerite Gachet, mardi 15 mai 1894.” [To my brother, greetings from her sister and friend Marguerite Gachet, Tuesday May 15, 1894,” see top images.]

Other photographs are yet to be identified, like the portrait of this man and dog:

Or of these two children (even though the one on the right is likely a portrait of Paul-Emile Gachet, one of the doctor’s sons):