EDGARD MAXENCE (1871-1954) Solitude "Peaceful... Lot 13

EDGARD MAXENCE (1871-1954) Solitude "Peaceful Seclusion" Panel 110 x 145 cm Signed lower right "Edgard Maxence" Original frame probably executed by the artist Little missing Provenance: Acquired in 1910 and remained by descent in the same family . Exhibition: Paris, Salon de 1910, n°1326. Bibliography: Illustrated catalogue of the Salon de 1910, published under the direction of F.-G. Dumas, Baschet editions, ill. plate 20 (under the title Solitude - Peaceful Seclusion -). One evening, in the forest, a young redheaded woman with diaphanous skin, in a Renaissance costume, plays the hurdy-gurdy. Three-quarters of an inch tall and with half-closed eyes, she seems to be immersed in a dream. Who does this "musician of silence" play for, alone in the woods? We are in Brittany, perhaps she evokes the fairies Viviane or Mélusine, King Arthur or the enchanter Merlin, who are hiding in Brocéliande. Edgard Maxence is once again considered today as one of the major figures of Symbolism. His esoteric and mysterious paintings have been reevaluated both by several successive purchases from the Musée d'Orsay and the exhibition devoted to him by the museum of Nantes, his home town, in 2010. A pupil of his compatriot Jules-Elie Delaunay and Gustave Moreau, his career was crowned with success. He exhibited at the Salon de la Rose + Croix in the 1890s and was awarded the gold medal at the 1900 Universal Exhibition. He was made a knight and then an officer of the Legion of Honour in 1900 and 1927 respectively, and was elected to the Institut de France in 1924. The French State bought several of his works, including the 1898 Salon "L'âme de la forêt" (Nantes, Musée des Beaux-Arts). This title serves as a programme for a whole series of works that the artist developed in the first decades of the 20th century, including our canvas. His mysterious young women in the undergrowth, in