After the bath

Léon-Augustin Lhermitte frequently depicted peasants at work in the fields, while intimate scenes such as the one in this drawing are rare in his œuvre. The present work can be compared with Bedtime, also drawn in charcoal and of the same dimensions, depicting a woman sitting in the same pose while undressing (private collection; Le Pelley Fonteny, op. cit., no. 449). A smaller, and quickly sketched, study in charcoal of the present composition was sold by Maître Rouillac in Vendôme, France, on 6 June 2021, lot 76.