MARGUERITE GÉRARD (Grasse 1761-1837 Paris)

The Bather

Details

MARGUERITE GÉRARD (Grasse 1761-1837 Paris)
The Bather
signed 'Mt e gerard' (lower left)
oil on unlined canvas
21¾ x 18 in. (55.3 x 45.7 cm.)

Provenance

Mlle. Lepailleur (grand-niece of Marguerite Gérard); her sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 30 January 1922, lot 11 ('La Baigneuse. Elle est assise au bord d'un ruisseau où plongent ses pieds. Vêtue de blanc, une résille noue dans ses cheveux blonds, elle semble gueter l'indiscret qui tenterait de troubler sa solitude. Signe à gauche. 52 x 43 cm.').
Private collection, France, until 2000.

Literature

S. Wells Robertson, Marguerite Gérard: 1761-1837, unpublished Ph.D dissertation, New York University, 1978, II, p. 935, no. 152 (present whereabouts unknown; 'without a doubt by Gérard').

Lot Essay

This exquisitely preserved painting is an example of Mlle. Gérard's sophisticated neo-Attic style developed in response to the growing fashion for Neoclassicism. Its highly refined contre-jour lighting effects and sculptural modelling reveals her familiarity with the works of the younger disciples of David, such as Girodet and Guérin, and displays her mastery of their techniques. Especially striking is the painting's mysterious woodland setting, which rivals the best contemporary landscape painting of Bertin and Bidauld.

The Bather probably dates from circa 1800-15.

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