Preparatory Drawing With Three Pencils - Female Nude With Pearl - Alexis-joseph Mazerolle

Alexis-Joseph Mazerolle - Female Nude with Pearl Earring Date: circa 1860-1870
Dimensions: H: 28.5 cm; W: 38.5 cm
Place of production: Paris
Material: Three pencils on beige paper
Condition: Stains, folds and pinholes
References: Musée de la Piscine Roubaix, Paris Petit-Palais, Lille Palais des Beaux Arts, Paris Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique, Angers, Grand Théâtre, Chantilly, musée Condé

Description: The work is a drawing in three pencils: black, red and white, showing a female nude seated in a relaxed position, legs crossed. The young woman has red hair whose curls fall on the nape of her neck. One arm rests on a sketched parapet while the other delicately holds the model's chin. The young woman is seated on a drape that serves as a background for her legs and evokes the decor. This sensual and languid figure takes up a pose much used by Mazerolle in many of his architectural decorations. It is notably found in the Marine Venus on the ceiling of the Hôtel Mazewski in Paris in 1882, or in the city of Bercy in the artist's project for the decoration of the grand staircase of the town hall of the 12th arrondissement of the city of Paris in 1879. This naturally suggests that this drawing is the sketch of a project for a monumental decoration, probably an allegory painted on a ceiling. These allegorical poses, usual since the Renaissance, take a sensual turn here, although it should be noted that the final figure is not necessarily a nude. Indeed, Mazerolle, like many academic painters, systematically drew the sketches of his nude characters in order to best control the proportions and conformations of the body once dressed.