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Lot Essay
This drawing represents Frederique Tison, the painter's niece by marriage. She first posed for Balthus in 1947 at the age of nine, and she became his favourite model after she moved to his villa at Chassy in 1954. Most likely, the drawing depicts her reclining on the large sofa in the living room of the villa. Balthus painted her in a simliar pose on this sofa in the 1955 work, La reve I. Inspired by Frederique's beauty, between 1954 and 1958 Balthus made a total of nine paintings of her asleep on a sofa. She was also the model for two of his most famous paintings, La chambre and Nu devant la chemine.
In the present work, as in many of Balthus's pictures of young girls, the raised hand and arm indicate that she is caught in the middle of a fantastic dream. For example, in Balthus's drawings for Wuthering Heights, an illustration of a girl in a similar pose is captioned, "Nelly, do you never dream queer dreams?". In the present work, it is unclear whether this dream is erotic or not. Some paintings of Frederique dreaming, such as La reve I and Le fruit d'or have a symbolic, rather than sexual, content. But other of Balthus's pictures of girls in reverie, such as Nu a chat, are clearly erotic in nature.
Many of Balthus's pictures incorporate references to masterpieces of European art; his Le lever, for example, is based on Caravaggio's Amor vincitore. Balthus's series of dreaming girls, including the present drawing, ultimately go back to the paintings of sleeping Venus by Giorgione and Giovanni Bellini.
In the present work, as in many of Balthus's pictures of young girls, the raised hand and arm indicate that she is caught in the middle of a fantastic dream. For example, in Balthus's drawings for Wuthering Heights, an illustration of a girl in a similar pose is captioned, "Nelly, do you never dream queer dreams?". In the present work, it is unclear whether this dream is erotic or not. Some paintings of Frederique dreaming, such as La reve I and Le fruit d'or have a symbolic, rather than sexual, content. But other of Balthus's pictures of girls in reverie, such as Nu a chat, are clearly erotic in nature.
Many of Balthus's pictures incorporate references to masterpieces of European art; his Le lever, for example, is based on Caravaggio's Amor vincitore. Balthus's series of dreaming girls, including the present drawing, ultimately go back to the paintings of sleeping Venus by Giorgione and Giovanni Bellini.