Léon Jean Pétua (1846-1921), Sketch For Suzanne In The Bath, Oil, 1880 Salon

Léon Jean Pétua (1846-1921)
Sketch for Suzanne and the Elders (1880) or Suzanne in the Bath
Oil on canvas mounted on cardboard
36 x 26.8 cm (cardboard)
47.5 x 39 cm (frame)
Signed lower left: L.Pétua
This sketch is preparatory for a painting exhibited at the Salon of 1880 "Suzanne and the Elders"
Good general condition - some missing parts - needs cleaning

Léon-Jean Pétua, born in 1846 in Besançon and died in 1921 in Zurich, was a French painter from Franche-Comté. He began his artistic training at the Municipal School of Drawing in Besançon under the tutelage of Franceschi. At the same time, he worked as an apprentice photographer for A. Lumière in 1846. Pétua then continued his studies at the Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he was a student of Jean-Léon Gérôme. In 1871-1872, he received a higher diploma from the City of Paris for the teaching of drawing. In 1875, he became a professor at the Technikum in Zurich. This sketch reflects the artist's early thoughts, and includes some variations with the final version exhibited in 1880. The Salon painting was sold at Christie's New York in 1989.