Joseph Urbain Melin (French 1811-1886) Hounds in Full Cry

Joseph Urbain Melin (French, 1811-1886) Hounds in Full Cry Signed and dated "J. Melin 1872" l.l., identified on a label from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, affixed to the stretcher. Oil on canvas, 15 1/4 x 21 in. (38.7 x 53.2 cm), framed. Condition: Lined, scattered retouch, fine scattered craquelure. Provenance: Descended within the family George Harold Edgell, 1887-1954. Edgell was an architectural historian and a professor of fine arts at Harvard University. In 1934 he became a curator of paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and assumed the directorship the following year.