Charles Léandre - The Lovers - Drawing

Charles LÉANDRE
(Champsecret, 1862 – Paris, 1934)
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Les Amoureux
1909 Pencil on vellum paper
39.5x29.5 cm / 52x42.9 cm with its frame
Signed lower right “C Léandre 1909 »

Originally from Normandy, Charles Léandre arrived in Paris at the age of 16 to train for an artistic career and settled in Montmartre. A versatile artist with a unique universe and a fruitful career, he stands out in particular in the genres of portraiture, humorous drawing and caricature, expressing himself in painting, pastel, sculpture and engraving. In the latter field, he particularly established himself as a lithographer, obtaining a gold medal at the Universal Exhibition of 1900, then the medal of honor in 1921 at the Salon des artistes français.
Charles Léandre's talents as a lithographic stone draughtsman are evident in the rendering of this drawing on paper, combining the spontaneity of the line, a work combining hatching and flat areas, a grainy appearance and a more or less sketched outline of the elements of the composition. While a few silhouettes move away along a winding path towards the village marked by the bell tower of its church, lovers in the foreground seem alone in the world. Huddled together, they both have their eyes closed, as if to savor the suspended moment. The man has brought a bouquet of flowers and leans tenderly towards the young woman, whose sweet face is wearing a crown of roses, a symbol of purity in traditional iconography. Perhaps they are also preparing to head to church to get married.