Barbizon School Nude Paintings

"Andromède" Oil on canvas, signed in the bottom right corner, 1904. Origin: Galerie F&J. Templaere, Paris, Collection Achille Raymond, Grenoble in 1936 Sale at Christie's, New York,...

A luxuriant forest is the romantic and lyrical landscape where the dance of the nude nymphs takes place in this joyful 19th Century antique oil on canvas painting featuring a mythological scene. Dance of the Nymphs and Naiads is a myth inspired by the tales of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, a subject already much loved in the Renaissance period as an allegory of rebirth - as in one of the most famous paintings in the world the Spring by Sandro Botticelli- then reproduced throughout the neoclassicism by academic painters -due to the renewed interest in classical artworks following the discovery of archaeological sites- and taken up later, with ecological purposes and meanings, also by the Barbizon school and Impressionist artists. The present artwork – signed Vagner low left and datable to the second half of the 19th century - is closely inspired by an important work by the great Camille Corot, which is now housed at the Musée d'Orsay (Paris). This historical oil on canvas painting, featuring a joyful scene with the three graces and other dancing nymphs...