Alexandre Graverol (1865-1949) - Medieval Princesses, Circa 1895

Alexandre Graverol, trained in Lyon and then in Paris under Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, quickly distinguished himself with a style that broke away from naturalism. A friend of Paul Verlaine and a frequent presence in the Symbolist circles of Paris and Brussels, Graverol lived the life of a carefree, dandy aesthete, moving between the nightlife of the Chat Noir, the literary soirées of La Plume, and an interest in the esoteric. After squandering his private fortune, he retreated to Brussels, withdrawing from the official art world and creating only for a circle of devoted friends.

This watercolor, likely from the 1890s—Graverol’s most Symbolist and fertile period—depicts four young girls dressed in medieval garb. They stand in an idyllic garden filled with flowers and cypresses, beside a tranquil pond where swans glide. In this carefully ordered composition, the swans—symbols of love and fidelity in Greco-Roman and Germanic mythology—amplify the sense of purity and harmony. Like timeless princesses, the young women embody an idealized Middle Ages, becoming muses of an otherworldly and serene realm that resonated with the Symbolist fascination for the mystical and the medieval.