PELLET Alphonse

The Little Ballerina

Circa 1880

Portrait of a Japanese Woman wearing Traditional Kimono Oil on wood panel signed upper right with a japanese ideogram Signature unread Other portrai...

STEVENS Agapit (1848 – 1924) Reception at the Salon Oil on wood signed low left New Golden Frame Dim wood panel : 24 X 39 cm Dim Frame : 49 X 63 cm STEVENS Agapit (1848 – 1924) Be...

Lilly Martin Spencer (American, 1822-1902) A Rare Portrait God Bless My Father. **Figure 84 from principal book/catalogue on Lilly Martin Spencer. 19th Century. Oil on canvas, signed Lilly Martin Spencer was one of the most popular and American female genre painters in the mid-nineteenth century. She primarily painted domestic scenes, paintings of women and children...

John William Godward 1861-1922 British A Pompeian Lady Signed and dated "J.W. Godward 1904" (lower right, partially covered by frame) Oil on canvas One of the last and greatest Victorian neoclassical painters, John William Godward is celebrated for his flawlessly executed images of graceful women posed in idealized ancient settings. In this work, entitled A Pompeian Lady, a classical beauty is caught idling in a moment of quiet, solitary reflection. Godward's elegant subjects are depicted with a degree of technical mastery that remains unsurpassed, and the work's dramatic palette, luxurious fabrics and classical vision are all characteristics of his unique take on the neoclassical style. Godward was unmatched in terms of his technical skill and attention to detail. A master of contrasting textures, he paints a diaphanous gown draping against the model’s smooth, milky white skin, which sits against the painstakingly rendered individual hairs of a tiger’s pel. Scintillating color permeates the canvas as well, energizing the otherwise static scene. Each element is given careful attention, and the overall effect is one of both immaculate technique and sensual tactility. Along with his contemporary and mentor, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Godward set the tone for the Victorian neoclassicist movement. He built his career upon creating images of idealized feminine beauty infused with a Greco-Roman-inspired style. Though greatly influenced by Alma-Tadema, Godward distinguished himself through his predilection for the solitary female figure. His fame rose dramatically in the first few years of the 20th century, when the present work was completed, due to the burgeoning strength of the British Empire and the Victorian society’s preoccupation with ancient Rome. To many of the newly affluent, Roman society was, as Iain Gale writes, “a flawless mirror of their own immaculate world.” The sensuality and mystery of Godward’s maidens, combined with his impressive antique backdrops...