Lot Essay
Whilst the subject of this watercolour is strongly reminiscent of Cézanne's oil series of 1876-1877, L'après-midi à Naples (R 289-291), Rewald (loc. cit.) related its erotic content to a different context, which the artist had explored in another contemporary watercolour, Le Peintre et la femme (RWC 33). The latter, the man's head shows some of the features of the artist friend Achille Emperaire, who often served as a surrogate for Cézanne himself in the painter's sexually charged compositions. The present work displays a lighter, fresher narrative than the heavy atmosphere of the celebrated oil, with stronger classical references and less intense voyeuristic and lascivious implications.