Lot Essay
It has been suggested that the figure of the elderly lady who appears in the background of the present work derives from the housekeeper in Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights of 1848 (see G. Carandente, Balthus, Drawings and Watercolours, London, 1983, p. 47). Balthus executed a series of illustrations for the book between 1932 and 1935.
"Wuthering Heights provided Balthus with an opportunity to work with his most personal theme - adolescents isolated in rooms closed to the outside world. When adults do appear, they serve to emphasize the remoteness of the adolescents. The figure of the elderly maid recurs in Balthus's paintings. She first appeared in The Quays, a work of 1929, we find her again as Nelly throughout the Wuthering Heights illustrations, and she combs Cathy's hair in Cathy Dressing of 1933 (now housed in the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris). In the 1948-9 series Georgette Dressing, an elderly maid hovers in the background as a nude adolescent peers into a mirror." (S. Rewald, Balthus, New York, 1984, p. 40, see illustration below).
Jeune Fille à sa Toilette was chosen for inclusion in the major Balthus retrospective held at the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York in 1983-4.
"Wuthering Heights provided Balthus with an opportunity to work with his most personal theme - adolescents isolated in rooms closed to the outside world. When adults do appear, they serve to emphasize the remoteness of the adolescents. The figure of the elderly maid recurs in Balthus's paintings. She first appeared in The Quays, a work of 1929, we find her again as Nelly throughout the Wuthering Heights illustrations, and she combs Cathy's hair in Cathy Dressing of 1933 (now housed in the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris). In the 1948-9 series Georgette Dressing, an elderly maid hovers in the background as a nude adolescent peers into a mirror." (S. Rewald, Balthus, New York, 1984, p. 40, see illustration below).
Jeune Fille à sa Toilette was chosen for inclusion in the major Balthus retrospective held at the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York in 1983-4.