Hugues Merle was a French painter who mostly depicted sentimental or moral subjects. He has often been compared with William-Adolphe Bouguereau.
Merle was born in 1822 in La Sône. He studied painting with Léon Cogniet. Hugues Merle became a friend of Paul Durand-Ruel in the early 1860s. Durand-Ruel had started buying paintings by Merle in 1862 and introduced the artist to painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau. Merle was later often compared to Bouguereau and “became a considerable rival of Bouguereau in subject and treatment”.
More art: https://artvee.com/artist/hugues-merle/
I'm always impressed by how well some artists can blend oils like this
Her hair is amazing in this, yes.
Hair is easy (relatively speaking). I was was looking at the skin tones. Just gorgeous!