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Lot Essay
Madame Juliette Pascal was the wife of Joseph Pascal, one of Lautrec's maternal cousins. The artist depicted her in this airy and summery portrait seated in the salon of the Chateau de Malromé, a property that the artist's mother, the La Comtesse Adèle de Toulouse-Lautrec, purchased in 1883. The artist looked forward to working on his portrait of Juliette. He had already painted, in the spring of 1887, a portrait of his mother, one of his finest pictures to date (Dortu, no. P.217; Musée d'Albi). In a letter written in June, Lautrec asked her mother about changes in her summer travel itinerary that might have a bearing on his plans to paint Juliette, "Could you say for sure whether I will be able to work with Juliette unencumbered, and whether you think I might get on steadily with the work without interruption" (ed. H.D. Schimmel, Letters, no. 143, p. 114).
In his chronology of the year 1887, Schimmel places Lautrec in Malromé in August, where he painted Juliette, prior to leaving for a seaside holiday at Arcachon. Lautrec was especially excited about his recent work. In July he had received a visit in his Paris studio from the Belgian painter Théo van Rysselberghe, who was looking for new artists he might include in an group exhibition of the independent artists known as Les Vingt (Les XX), which was scheduled to open in Brussels the following February. In a letter to Octave Maus, the secretary of Les XX, van Rysselberghe wrote about Lautrec, "The chap has talent! In no uncertain terms he fits in with Les XX. He's never exhibited--he's making at the moment some very amusing things. Fernando's circus [see lot 15], prostitutes and all that. He knows well a certain corner of the world." (quoted in G. B. Murray, op. cit., p. 130). In a follow-up letter later in the summer van Rysselberghe announced to Maus that Lautrec had accepted his invitation and that he "will send us some things that are truly good. We will have all the work that we want of him and already I've seen three or four things that would make a chic effect at Les XX" (ibid., pp. 130-131).
Lautrec sent ten paintings to Brussels, including Madame Juliette Pascal, which was listed as no. 5 in the Les XX catalogue. He also sent the portrait of his mother, and a striking pastel of his friend Vincent van Gogh, who had been a fellow student in Cormon's atelier in 1886, and was now a regular visitor to Lautrec's studio. Most of these paintings were rendered in a modified Impressionist style, with comma-like, broken strokes or short strands of color. The single exception was a Cirque Fernando picture, which may have been the large, flatly composed mural that was subsequently lost (see note to lot 15).
In his chronology of the year 1887, Schimmel places Lautrec in Malromé in August, where he painted Juliette, prior to leaving for a seaside holiday at Arcachon. Lautrec was especially excited about his recent work. In July he had received a visit in his Paris studio from the Belgian painter Théo van Rysselberghe, who was looking for new artists he might include in an group exhibition of the independent artists known as Les Vingt (Les XX), which was scheduled to open in Brussels the following February. In a letter to Octave Maus, the secretary of Les XX, van Rysselberghe wrote about Lautrec, "The chap has talent! In no uncertain terms he fits in with Les XX. He's never exhibited--he's making at the moment some very amusing things. Fernando's circus [see lot 15], prostitutes and all that. He knows well a certain corner of the world." (quoted in G. B. Murray, op. cit., p. 130). In a follow-up letter later in the summer van Rysselberghe announced to Maus that Lautrec had accepted his invitation and that he "will send us some things that are truly good. We will have all the work that we want of him and already I've seen three or four things that would make a chic effect at Les XX" (ibid., pp. 130-131).
Lautrec sent ten paintings to Brussels, including Madame Juliette Pascal, which was listed as no. 5 in the Les XX catalogue. He also sent the portrait of his mother, and a striking pastel of his friend Vincent van Gogh, who had been a fellow student in Cormon's atelier in 1886, and was now a regular visitor to Lautrec's studio. Most of these paintings were rendered in a modified Impressionist style, with comma-like, broken strokes or short strands of color. The single exception was a Cirque Fernando picture, which may have been the large, flatly composed mural that was subsequently lost (see note to lot 15).