Engraving Le Bain Des Dames De La Cour Au XIX, By François Flameng

Superb Large engraving enhanced with watercolor by François Flameng; late 19th century, entitled "The Ladies' Bath in the 17th Century," dated.
Signed lower right by François Flameng,
lower left: Printed by François Flameng,
lower right: Goupil & Cie engraving,
center: Printed and published April 1, 1887 by BOUSSOD VALADON Et Compagnie, successors to GOUPIL & Cie, Paris, London, The Hague.

Dimensions: Image: 52/66 cm x Sheet: 64/74 cm.
Condition: Unframed engraving mounted on vellum. Our engraving is in good condition; the image is impeccable, with only a few minor foxing spots and some bleaching in the sheet below the image and title. Professional restoration is recommended.



Asking price: €440

Son of the famous painter and engraver Léopold Flameng, learning painting from his father, he entered the École des beaux-arts de Paris in Alexandre Cabanel's studio, then those of Pierre Edmond Alexandre Hédouin and Jean-Paul Laurens.
In 1875, he made his debut at the Salon des artistes français with his painting Le Lutrin.
Appreciated by Tsar Alexander III, who bought him the painting entitled "Baignade desames de la cour au XVIIIe siècle", he was invited to Gatchina in Russia in 1894 to paint a series of portraits of aristocratic personalities and the imperial court.
In 1900, he executed the Paris decorative panel for the grand hall of the Le Train bleu restaurant at the Gare de Lyon in Paris.
François Flameng was appointed professor at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1905, where he had many students. He became a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts that same year, replacing William Bouguereau

François Flameng (1856-1923), a master of eclecticism
With L'Appel des Girondins Flameng began his revolutionary cycle, a set of five paintings produced between 1879 and 1885. This was followed by Les Vainqueurs de la Bastille in 1881, Camille Desmoulins in 1882, the Massacre de Machecoul in 1884, and Marie-Antoinette allant au supplice in 1885 which, receiving a rather cold reception at the Salon ended the cycle.

Flameng thus distinguished himself in this early part of his career as a recognized history painter, aided in this by the under-secretary of fine arts, Edmond Turquet. Flameng had married his daughter Henriette in 1881, and it was thanks to Edmond Turquet that Flameng received the commission for the Camille Desmoulins for the sum of 12,000 francs. Nevertheless, the artist didn't limit himself to these "big machines", which opportunely took advantage of the approaching commemoration of the centenary of the Revolution, and he also began, in the 1880s, to exhibit genre scenes in the neo-rocaille taste. A style then very much in vogue, at a time when the XVIII^e century was attracting and seducing, and which suited Flameng all the better as the latter, a talented colorist and meticulous craftsman of detail could offer charming, documented scenes.

In the midst of an active and plethoric production one work received a much more considerable success than the others: Le Bain des dames de la cour: XVIII^e siècle.

The canvas was shown in 1886 at the Salon and it seduced the house of Goupil, an art dealer who was then taking advantage of the neo-rocaille fashion among collectors. It was resold in 1888 to Russian Emperor Alexander III, who, like other members of the Russian imperial family, was a fan of Flameng's work.