CIRCLE OF ANNE-LOUIS GIRODET-TRIOSON
(MONTARGIS 1767-1824 PARIS)
CIRCLE OF ANNE-LOUIS GIRODET-TRIOSON
(MONTARGIS 1767-1824 PARIS)
CIRCLE OF ANNE-LOUIS GIRODET-TRIOSON
(MONTARGIS 1767-1824 PARIS)
2 More
CIRCLE OF ANNE-LOUIS GIRODET-TRIOSON(MONTARGIS 1767-1824 PARIS)

A reclining nude

Details
CIRCLE OF ANNE-LOUIS GIRODET-TRIOSON
(MONTARGIS 1767-1824 PARIS)
A reclining nude
with monogram and with date 'Ao VII'
oil on canvas
21 3⁄8 x 37 ¾ in. (54.3 x 95.9 cm.)
Provenance
with Knoedler Galleries, New York, by 1939.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, New York, 31 January 1997, lot 103, as Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson, where acquired by the present owner.
Exhibited
New York, M. Knoedler and Company, Classics of the Nude: For the Benefit of the Lisa Day Nursery, 10-29 April 1939, no. 18, as Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson.

Brought to you by

Laura H. Mathis
Laura H. Mathis VP, Specialist, Head of Sale

Lot Essay

This enigmatic painting, with its vaporous atmosphere, lyrical tonality, and erotic undercurrent, exemplifies the refined Neoclassicism that flourished in France at the close of the eighteenth century. In the wake of the Revolution, a new class of patrons, shaped by the era’s profound social upheavals, sought works of art that privileged imagination and emotional resonance over heroic grandeur.

The present composition invites comparison with Girodet’s Danäe of 1798 (Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig) and his decorations at the Château de Compiègne. Its delicate modelling and spatial ambiguity place it firmly within the tradition cultivated by artists in Girodet’s circle. As George Levitine observed in his seminal dissertation on the artist, such painters often employed the human form as a vehicle for expressing the sentiments of the soul, placing their figures in ethereal, dreamlike environments to heighten their otherworldly effect (G. Levitine, Girodet-Trioson: An Iconographical Study, Cambridge, 1978, p. 198).

More from Old Masters and 19th Century Paintings from a Private Collection - Selling Without Reserve

View All
View All