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Lot Essay
Born in Sète in the Herault in 1871, Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola was a student of Fernand Cormon and Pierre Dupuis and exhibited regularly at the Salon des artistes français from 1889. Following his successes in that arena, the young artist became a member of the Comité de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts where his works appeared every year. Beginning in 1894, the Guirand de Scévola turned to Symbolism and concentrated solely on the aesthetic aspect of his depictions of young women.
The Pre-Raphaelite movement enjoyed a second wave of popularity in France in the 1890s, and the young princess in the present painting is evocative of the fairy tales and legend which were the basis of the Pre-Raphaelite repertoire. The handling of the young princess's costume, with its rich, dark colors accentuated by golden embossing is reminiscent of the technique of Gustave Moreau.
A variant of the same subject, The Young Princess, painted in the same year but depicting the same model en face, is in the Mulhouse Museum, Alsace. (fig.1).
(fig. 1) Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola, The Young Princess, (1902), Mulhouse Museum, Alsace.
Photo courtesty - Art Resource.
The Pre-Raphaelite movement enjoyed a second wave of popularity in France in the 1890s, and the young princess in the present painting is evocative of the fairy tales and legend which were the basis of the Pre-Raphaelite repertoire. The handling of the young princess's costume, with its rich, dark colors accentuated by golden embossing is reminiscent of the technique of Gustave Moreau.
A variant of the same subject, The Young Princess, painted in the same year but depicting the same model en face, is in the Mulhouse Museum, Alsace. (fig.1).
(fig. 1) Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola, The Young Princess, (1902), Mulhouse Museum, Alsace.
Photo courtesty - Art Resource.