La veille d’un début

Details

PIERRE CARRIER-BELLEUSE (PARIS 1851-1932)
La veille d’un début
signed 'Pierre Carrier-Belleuse' (lower right)
oil on canvas
40 ¼ x 47 ¼ in. (102.2 x 120 cm.)
Painted in 1888.

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Christie's, New York, 12 February 1998, lot 66A, as The Fortune Teller.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.

Literature

'Le Salon' Le Figaro, 30 April 1888, p. 2.
'Bob au Salon', L'Univers illustré, 9 June 1888, p. 358, illustrated with a caricature.
H. Fouquier, Salon illustré, 1 May 1888, n.p., illustrated.

Exhibited

Paris, Salon, 1888, no. 504, illustrated.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

Pierre Carrier-Belleuse first studied under his father, the sculptor Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse. He is best remembered for his paintings and pastels of ballerinas. The present work was the artist’s Salon submission in 1888, where it was well-received by critics who were charmed by the depiction of the mother of a young ballerina consulting her cards the night before the dancer’s debut in order to foretell the success of her career.

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