Paul BOREL (1828-1913). Portrait of a woman in profile. Charcoal on paper signed in pen lower left (tears, wetness and folds). Size of unfolded sheet: Height. 32.7 cm - Width 25.5 cm In 1849, Paul Borel was in Paris, attracted by the presence of Louis Janmot, where he studied the classics in the Louvre. He made his debut at the Salon de Lyon in 1851 with the works Sainte Élisabeth de Hongrie et le miracle des roses, Sainte Élisabeth de Hongrie distribuant des aumônes and Saint Jean l'évangéliste entouré d'anges. In 1852, Janmot and Borel went on their Grand Tour of Italy in search of new sources of inspiration. In 1855, Borel spent a long time in Paris. That year, he met Joseph-Victor Ranvier and Irénée Richard at the Académie Suisse. In 1857, he exhibited at the Paris Salon. Between 1857 and 1864, he took occasional classes with Hippolyte Flandrin, a professor at the École Beaux-Arts in Paris. Two years after their marriage, his wife died. Following this bereavement, Borel commissioned Pierre Bossan to build the chapel for the Oullins school. His first murals on the life of Abbé Vianney, curé of Ars-sur-Formans, also date from this period. With his characteristic faith, Borel devoted himself to murals for churches and convents: convent of the Discalced Carmelites in Lyon; Ars basilica; chapel of the Saint-Thomas d'Aquin school in Oullins; chapel of the Augustines in Versailles; Saint-Paul church in Lyon.