When I first saw Une Soirée au Louvre in 2015, I was convinced that the figure depicted here was Franz Liszt. The facial match was undeniable. Given that Liszt’s rival, Thalberg, performed at the soirées on March 14, 1852, and February 3, 1854, I expected Liszt to have attended as well. A major challenge was to find a match between Liszt’s busy schedule and the vendredi-soirées. He spent most of his time in Weimar, but I discovered a few weeks in October 1853 where he stayed in Paris.

However, upon revising my documentation in late 2024, I discovered a newspaper article from 1855 (scanned in April 2024) that listed most of the names I had identified —but not Liszt. Instead, the article referenced Victor Regnault, the scientist. Both men had a match for the Légion d’Honneur title visible in the painting.

A caricature by Eugène Giraud confirms Regnault’s presence at least one vendredi-soirée, but does not prove that he was depicted in Soirée au Louvre. Giraud did not make a caricature of Liszt.
If Liszt had ever performed at a soirée, the Parisian music journals, who closely followed everything this legendary pianist did, and Viel-Castel would have mentioned it.

Given this, Regnault remains the most plausible match.
De Nieuwerkerke would have been excited to have Liszt at one of his Louvre events, but his travel scheme simply did not allow it. For this reason, and to show the complexity of matching faces in paintings, I will maintain Liszt’s profile.