Lucien Victor Guirand De Scevola (1871-1950), Les Marionnettes 1910, Drawing Signed Ans Dated

 Lucien Victor Guirand de Scevola (1871-1950)
Portrait of Marie-Thérèse Piérat in Les Marionnettes, 1910
Pencil on paper,
signed, dated and annotated lower right
22 x 17 cm
In good condition except some stains visible on photographs.
In its original mount but modern frame : 44 x 37 cm

Marie-Thérèse Piérat (1883-1934) was the wife of Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scevola.
She was a renowned actress and their marriage had been a great social event in 1906.
She played in "Les Marionnettes" play by Pierre Wolff, of which Maurice de Féraudy was the star, at the Comédie Française, in October 1910. Maurice de Féraudy was later portrayed by Guirand de Scévola in a large pastel and Marie-Thérèse was his pupil and close friend.
It's a rare and an intimate portrait of his wife in one of her theatrical role.

I want to thank very warmly Mr Rik Wassenaar, specialist of the artist and art Historian, who was the one able to identify the model and subject.

Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola ( 1871 – 1950) was a French painter.
He was student of Fernand Cormon and Pierre Dupuis at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris.
De Scévola art is remarkable for his silky, velvety and smooth style.
The very first part of his career was marked by symbolism, but he later developped his own language, his Art Deco like bunches of flowers are the best known. He was also a great portraitist for the socialites and aristocrats of the period.
He was involved in several important art movements during his lifetime, and his style evolved to reflect the changing trends in French art during the first half of the 20th century. His work is often described as a fusion of Symbolism, Post-Impressionism, and elements of modernism, though he remained deeply rooted in traditional French artistic practices.
He is also known for his pioneering leadership of the Camoufleurs (the French Camouflage Department) in World War I.