This dish, inspired by the bellas of the Italian Renaissance, bears witness to the fruitful collaboration that began in 1882 between the ceramist Théodore Deck and the young artist Paul Helleu, before the latter became the fashionable portraitist of feminine elegance.
1. Paul Helleu
In 1913 Robert de Montesquiou wrote in his book devoted to the painter: "Helleu was born in Vannes in 1859, of a Breton father and a Parisian mother". He hardly knew his father, who died when he was three years old, and was brought up entirely by his mother, who sent him to continue his studies at the Lycée Chaptal in Paris in 1873.
The discovery of Edouard Manet's Chemin de Fer at the 1874 Salon is reported to be at the origin of his artistic vocation. He worked against his mother's wishes in the studio of the painter Gérôme, also frequented by the painters Giovanni Boldini, Jean-Louis Forain and Antonio de La Gandara...
Category
Impressionist 1880s Art
MaterialsEarthenware, Glaze