Lot 23
  • 23

Jean André Rixens

Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 USD
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Description

  • Jean André Rixens
  • Jeune femme nue se coiffant dans un intérieur
  • signed JRixens and dated -87 (lower left)
  • oil on canvas
  • 40 3/8 by 25 1/2 in.
  • 102.6 by 64.8 cm

Exhibited

Musée Paul-Dini, musée municipal de Villefranche-sur-Saône, Tentations. L'appel des sens (1830-1914), October 16, 2016-February 12, 2017, illustrated p. 71

Condition

Unlined. Widely patterned stable craquelure visible in her body. Under UV: Inpainting to address craquelure in her body, and a few dots and dashes of inpainting in her reflection.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

Émile Zola introduced the reading public to fifteen-year-old Anna, nicknamed Nana, in his book L'Assommoir, published in serial form from April 1876 to January 1877.  The daughter of the laundress Gervaise and her alcoholic husband Copeau, Nana was "as plump as a pincushion" with a "milky completion and skin as velvety as a peach" (Émile Zola, L'Assommoir, trans. L. W. Tancock, New York, 1970, p. 340-1). The character was further developed in an eponymous novel, Nana, which was an immediate success and its courtesan became a well-known icon in popular culture. While famously represented at her mirror or vanity by Édouard Manet (1877, Kunsthalle, Hamburg), and Henri Gervex (see lot 22), Jean-André Rixens alludes to the literary heroine in the present work, painted in 1887, while simultaneously evoking Alfred Roll’s composition, Retour de Ball (1886, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes).