Gaston de LA TOUCHE (1854-1913). The Thinking Old Man. Pastel on card signed lower left. Height : 79 cm - Width : 58 cm Note: a native of Saint-Cloud, this self-taught painter gravitated around the painters of the "New Athens" and was a friend of Edouard Manet, who was brought back into the limelight thanks to a retrospective of his work at the Musée des Avelines in Saint-Cloud in 2015. This work must date from the 1880s-1890s, when he began painting intimist scenes in the manner of the 17th-century Dutch, and pastel portraits in a style influenced by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes. Numerous monumental works can be seen at Saint-Cloud town hall and throughout the town, as well as at Saint-Clodoald church, where the artist painted a Descent from the Cross in 1896.