Charles Picart le Doux Art

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...

Elenora. 1981. Wood engraving. 6 7/8 x 3 3/4 (sheet 11 1/8 x 8 1/2). Proof apart from the edition for the Print Club of Cleveland. Printed on white wove paper. Signed and dedicated i...

Alejandro Casanova Playing around 100 x 100 cm oil on canvas The Spanish artist Alejandro Casanova lives and works in Tenerife, where he moved afte...

Nude Lady by Josine Vignon (French 1922-2022) oil on thin board, unframed board: 27 x 15 inches good condition with some cracks shown in photos provenance: from the artists estate, ...

FRANCES H. GEARHART (1869-1958) DESERT BARRIER c. 193 Color block print, unsigned 12 x 9 ¼”. Typical original margins on good fibrous japan paper. Many very good impressions by Ge...

Striking portrait of a woman at a table with a teapot in a lush tropical setting by San Jose artist R. A. "Bobbie" Dixon (American, 20th Century). Signed b...

Portrait of a Fashionable Lady French School, indistinctly signed "Degucret"? oil on canvas, unframed painting: 25.5 x 21 inches provenance: private collection condition: very good a...

The French Priest by Denise Dardel (French circa 1950) signed lower front, dated 1950 verso oil on canvas, unframed canvas: 30 x 19.5 inches provenance: private collection condition:...

American school, Signed indistinctly lower right and dated 1988. A bravura, psychologically-penetrating oil study of a man, shown wearing a turban and contrasted against a scumbled ...

This painting shows a girl with a juggling ball in her hand. Her image includes both coldness and vulnerability. Thanks to her ball, she juggles her life.

Canvas measures 25" X 19" inches without the frame. Born in Nagykaroly, Hungary in 1911 (Transylvania, in 1919 it became Carei, Romania). His parents came from the gentry and trade...

America is an original artwork realized around 1830. Original black and white woodcut. Image dimensions 11.8 x 15.6 cm. Quite good conditions except for foxings especially along th...