ALFRED PHILIPPE ROLL (Paris 1846-1919) LES BAIGNEUSES Canvas Without... Lot 147

ALFRED PHILIPPE ROLL (Paris 1846-1919) LES BAIGNEUSES Canvas Without frame Dated and signed on the lower left: 1905 / Roll Countersigned and dated in the back: Roll / 1905 Bathers, canvas, without frame, dated and signed on the lower left 1905 / Roll, countersigned and dated in the back 1905 / Roll 225 x 388 cm - 88,6 x 152,8 in. Provenance Sale La Belle Époque, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, (Chayette-Cheval), 18 May 2001, n°123 (90 000 FRF). Exhibition Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, 1909, n° 1000 (decorative panel). Bibliography I. Collet, Roll et le décor public une peinture de l'enchantement, in Catalogue de l'exposition Alfred Roll, 1846-1919: Le naturalisme en question, under the direction of Olivier Le Bihan, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, 2007, reproduced p.101 (location unknown). Ten years after delivering a very large format entitled "The joys of life: women, flowers and music" for the introductory salon of the Hôtel de Ville in 1895, Alfred Roll took up the subject of bathers in the undergrowth, modifying his composition. This new creation differs from the previous one by subtle modifications such as the suppression of the group of musicians and the greater importance given to the vegetation around the water, also allowing to emphasize the young women having fun and relaxing. In 1906, he received confirmation of the commission to decorate the hall of the Petit Palais museum and according to Isabelle Collet (op. cit.) our painting could be linked to this decorative cycle: "intended for the Petit Palais (not installed)". Finally, he exhibited it at the 1909 Salon, showing an adaptation to Impressionism, which was finally established in those years. Roll used a divided brushstroke, impasto effects in light tones for the landscape, enlivened by large red flowers that evoke the Japanese taste and created a musical symphony of the female nude characteristic of the Belle Epoque.