Pierre-Albert Bégaud

End of card game - Portrait of a nude woman

Circa 1930

Julius EXNER (Copenhagen, 1825 - Copenhagen, 1910) Model stripping Oil on canvas H. 122 cm; L. 74 cm Signed and dated 1842 lower right Exhibition: most likely Charlottenborg Salon of 1845, under number 110, titled Modelfigur, awarded with a silver medal Provenance: Emilio Fernando Bolt (c.1860 - 1944), acquired from the artist around 1900, then by descent Our painting was produced as part of the summer sessions organized between 1839 and 1850 by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783-1853), the master of Danish painting of the first half of the 19th century, in his private studio-apartment on the ground floor. floor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. The master brought together a few students there between June and September, rented one or two models for the season, which were painted from different angles, the artists (including Eckersberg himself) sitting side by side. Eckersberg used to paint a fairly small version, the pupils of the larger formats. The work fits more generally into the legendary context of the research and reforms carried out by Eckersberg concerning the studies of nudes and in particular of female nudes, to make this exercise a genre of painting in its own right. Following his two-year stint in Jacques-Louis David's studio in Paris in 1811, Eckersberg had been made aware of work on the nude and in particular on live models, in natural light, while in Denmark the drawings were then only made from casts of antique models or other mannequins. In 1822, when he had been a professor there since 1818, it was he who had the Royal Academy of Copenhagen authorize the study of nudes, no longer in the evening by candlelight, but in natural light; from 1833, it was still he who allowed students to work on nude female models, even if the official authorization of the Academy did not take place until 1839. It was this same year that he instituted his summer sessions, on a private basis, to orient his painting and that of his students towards a new conception of the representation of models: even if the nude remains the real theme, it does not however, this is more than just an academic exercise. The subject is placed in a contemporary interior, with a rather sophisticated decor, and occupied with an intimate activity (it is this type of intimate vein that we will find later in Degas or Cassatt for example); thus in our painting, the young woman is supposed to take off her clothes to wash. The objective is that the viewer forgets that the master and his students are painting a model during a posing session, and that he instead has the impression of being alone with the model, but invisible, almost like a voyeur in spite of himself. Moreover, in these paintings, the model never looks towards the spectator, inducing a psychological distance with him, whereas model and artist are actually physically very close. On the other hand, it is not a question of idealized nudes either, even if Eckersberg, proof of his debt to the antique, chooses fairly classic models and poses. The sensuality is real and very present, with dreamy, even innocent, and timeless expressions (the models do not seem to have a defined age), suave and slow attitudes and movements, and especially with clothes that hide or reveal skillfully parts of the female body: upper buttocks, pronounced hips... Made by an artist under 20, our sensual painting is probably one of the most beautiful and spectacular produced by the students of Eckersberg during these summer sessions. With a perfect balance between the firmness of an ancient statue (it recalls the Venus de Milo) and the softness of the feminine forms, highlighted by a harmonious palette, it captures the attention with many details: the almost photographic folds white clothing...

Jean-Baptiste-Arthur CALAME (Geneva, 1843 - Geneva, 1919) Mediterranean shore, probably the Côte d'Azur Oil on canvas mounted on cardboard H. 24 cm; L. 30 cm Signed lower right Circa...

François-Joseph KINSON (Bruges 1770 – Bruges 1839) Portrait of a young woman near a spring, accompanied by her dog Oil on canvas H. 73 cm; L. 60 cm circa 1815-1817 We owe this elega...

François-Edme RICOIS (Courtalain, 1795 - Mareil-Marly, 1881) View of Châteaudun Oil on canvas H. 65 cm; W. 98 cm Signed and dated lower center 1860 François-Edme Ricois although bor...

Maurice LOBRE (Bordeaux 1862 - Paris 1951) Le goûter Huile sur toile H. 87 cm ; L. 91,5 cm Format peint d’origine, H. 101 cm ; L. 96 cm, disposé sur un châssis plus petit par l’artiste lui-même. Signée et datée 1888 en bas à droite Provenance : Collection privée, Lyon Exposition : 1889, Salon des Artistes Français, n°1719 « Intérieur », (ou 1720 nommé également « Intérieur ») Œuvres en rapport : Le Cabinet de toilette de Jacques-Emile Blanche, (titre erroné) H. 80 cm ; L. 85 cm, HST, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, pendant de notre toile. Maurice Lobre a-t-il connu Marcel Proust ? On ne peut encore l'affirmer, bien qu'il ait eu de nombreux amis en commun avec l'écrivain. Mais sa peinture intimiste pourrait illustrer certaines pages de Du côté de chez Swann. Trois citations dues à des proches de Proust, l'une de l'écrivain Léon Daudet, la seconde du peintre Jacques-Emile Blanche, la dernière du poète mondain Robert de Montesquiou, donnent un aperçu de ce que fut la renommée de Maurice Lobre en son temps : "Il en va autrement de Lobre, le Vermeer français, le peintre exquis des intérieurs et des palais de Versailles, des reflets sur les meubles rares, de la lumière prisonnière des miroirs, des laques et des cuivres polis. Lobre est joyeux comme un coup de vent, qui fait envoler les préjugés et les poncifs, éloquent, passionné, ivre de la couleur et des formes, charmant et conquérant de toutes les matières. Il se promène ici-bas ainsi que dans un musée en plein-air, s'amuse de tout, rejette et maudit le laid et le vil, accueille et bénit le beau et le bien…" Léon Daudet L'Entre-deux-guerres. Souvenirs des milieux littéraires, politiques, artistiques et médicaux de 1880 à 1905. "Voici le patient, appliqué, sage M. Lobre. Il est difficile de mettre plus d'honnêteté à peindre des intérieurs sans figures. Je préfère ses petits salons de Versailles à ses cathédrales… Nous lui devons des petits bijoux d'émotion et de large fini." Jacques-Emile Blanche "Il a recueilli sur des toiles le visage du vieux Versailles (…). Il a peuplé de visions impalpables des chambres " où il s'est passé quelque chose ", et il en a saturé l'atmosphère de particules historiques. Donner une telle impression avec certitude, avec vérité, c'est plus difficile que de faire évoluer des personnages costumés, dans ce qu'on appelle bêtement "une reconstitution historique"." Comte Robert de Montesquiou Maurice Lobre commence sa carrière au Salon de 1882 où il expose deux portraits, dont celui de son camarade de l'atelier Carolus-Duran, le peintre espagnol Ramon Casas...

After Baron Gérard, circa 1835 Portrait of King Louis-Philippe Oil on canvas H. 79 cm; L. 65 cm Provenance : Private collection, Périgord, by descent since the 19th century This po...

The Artists Model Portrait of a Young Male Nude French, late 19th century pencil drawing on artist paper, unframed with further sketches verso artist paper: 13 x 9.5 inches provenanc...

"Parisian Model" is an oil on canvas painting by Max Weber painted in 1908. The work is signed and dated, lower right, "Max Weber Paris 1908". The painting size is 35 1/2 x 19 5/8 inches. The framed size is 43 x 27 x 2 1/4 inches. "Parisian Model" was painted in 1908, when Weber participated in a life class in Matisse's studio in Paris and painted several nudes. Weber was influenced toward a more Cubist styler after seeing Cezanne's work in the 1906-07 Salon in Paris, and he consorted within avant-garde circles in Paris as early as 1905. After returning to the US in 1909, Weber was credited with showing American audiences Cubism based on his firsthand knowledge of the key players and the style. Several drawings of Weber's from this time are in museum collections at The Met, the Smithsonian, and MoMA and show a similar style and stocatto gesture. Parisian paintings by Max Weber are extremely rare as there are hardly any that have sold publicly. Provenance: Estate of the Artist Gerald Peters Gallery...

Oil on canvas by Albert Rigaux, ( Schaerbeek 1897-1981 Brussels ) Signed lower left: Alb. Rigaux. Titled by hand verso. Provenance: estate of the artist Measurements: 19.69 x 15.75...

"Nude Descending a Staircase #2" is a painting by Mel Ramos. The painting is signed verso, "Mel Ramos '04". The framed piece measures 71 3/8 x 53 3/8 x 1 3/4 in. Mel Ramos is best known for his paintings of superheroes and female nudes juxtaposed with pop culture imagery. Many of the subjects in his paintings emerge from iconic brands or cultural touchstones like Chiquita bananas...

Otto Theodore Gustav Lingner, Oriental female nude dancing with a sword, Dimensions without frame 80 cm x 136 cm Measures with frame 102cm x 157cm An outstanding work of art by Ott...

Les Baigneuses by Paulémile Pissarro (1884-1972) Oil on canvas 89 x 118 cm (35 x 46 ¹/₂ inches) Signed and dated lower right, Paulémile - Pissarro. 1928. This work is accompanied by...