Albert Laurens

ALBERT F.A. LAURENS (France, 1864-1934)
"The Model", 1883.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 161 x 130 cm; 209 x 145 x 6 cm (with frame).

We are in front of a feminine nude resolved with notable plastic sensibility that is appreciated in the extraction of the just qualities and in the handling of the glazes and the light. A young woman, naked except for a transparent gauze knotted at the level of the pubis, leans on a sculptor's easel with a languid attitude, tired of posing for hours before the artist. The play of transparencies of the tulle that falls in ethereal cascades reinforces the sensuality of the body, already voluptuous and harmonious, like that of a Greek goddess, whose recreation must serve as a model. The gold and silver bracelets underline by contrast the white smoothness of the flesh, slightly rosy. Gold embroidery borders the cloth, matching the diadem. In the anatomical details, such as the modeling of the thighs, the turgidity of the bust, the roundness of the knees and the fineness of the hands, the author's virtuosity is expressed. An ancient amphora rests at her feet, carved with nymphs and Greek goddesses (Artemis with the hunting dog, a muse of Apollo playing the lyre...) Behind the model, we see a sculpture with a mythological theme (it could be Leda and the Swan). A brocade curtain closes the scene, which together with the aforementioned classicist elements and the Persian carpet, describe the painter's workshop.

This sumptuous and aestheticist painting is an outstanding work in the production of Albert Laurens, a painter belonging to the French school of neoclassicism. He was born in Lyon in April 1864 and died in 1934. He trained with Bonnat, and exhibited several times at the Salon des Artistes Français. He practiced portraiture (specializing in the female figure) and the landscape genre.