Lot Essay
This painting was done for Lautrec's first collaboration with the critic and writer Gustave Geoffrey (1855-1926), a pair of articles entitled "Le Plaisir Paris" for the supplement Figaro Illustr. La Vendeuse de fleurs was used to illustrate the second article on this theme, which appeared as "Les Bals et le Carnaval" in the February 1894 issue, in conjunction with the annual cycle of masked balls and carnival festivities that preceded the Lenten season in Paris. This illustrated supplement, one of many that emerged during the 1890s, leading to a circulation war, utilized the new technique of chromo-typography to reproduce artists illustrations in a manner than resembled comtemporary posters.
The figure in La Vendeuse de fleurs was based on an oil painting on board done slightly earlier (Dortu, no. 525; Muse d'Albi). Using a method similar to that which Degas practiced in his serial works of dancers and bathers, the artist traced the flower-seller's features and essential figure contours onto a sheet of paper and then laid it down on board. He then further refined the details by drawing with the brush and rendered more clearly the flowers and basket. In contrast to the economically applied strokes of pigment in the earlier version, the thinned oil paint (peinture l'essence) in the present version is more evenly applied and modulated in tone, creating flatter forms and using a pink and green palette that could be effectively reproduced for the magazine illustration.
The works painted for Figaro Illustr were originally in the possession of the Boussod et Valadon Gallery, which was affiliated with the magazine; several of these, including the present work, entered the collection of the renowned critic Roger Marx.
The figure in La Vendeuse de fleurs was based on an oil painting on board done slightly earlier (Dortu, no. 525; Muse d'Albi). Using a method similar to that which Degas practiced in his serial works of dancers and bathers, the artist traced the flower-seller's features and essential figure contours onto a sheet of paper and then laid it down on board. He then further refined the details by drawing with the brush and rendered more clearly the flowers and basket. In contrast to the economically applied strokes of pigment in the earlier version, the thinned oil paint (peinture l'essence) in the present version is more evenly applied and modulated in tone, creating flatter forms and using a pink and green palette that could be effectively reproduced for the magazine illustration.
The works painted for Figaro Illustr were originally in the possession of the Boussod et Valadon Gallery, which was affiliated with the magazine; several of these, including the present work, entered the collection of the renowned critic Roger Marx.