Gustave Moreau (1826-1898) Circle Of, Orientalist Composition, Drawing In Graphite

Orientalist composition, probable preparatory sketch particularly successful with the dazzling invoice, relating to the assembly of the marie-louise the name of the artist “Moreau” for Gustave Moreau, attribution still probable.
The pyramidal composition, the exceptional carving of the drawing joins certain sheets of the symbolist master; his rare precision, his mastery of the drapes, of the anatomical treatise, quality of the ornamentation, design of the dromedary whose coat is even restored; only two figures on the left being left in a more unfinished sketch; Moreau, an immense colourist but also a master of drawing superbly revisiting the classical, biblical (Old Testament) and mythological or even fantastic heritage, and testifying to an impeccable academicism in his drawings, studies very elaborate in graphite and black chalk, many of which are available in the NMR database. This winding construction around a central axis is found in particular in the series of “dead lyres”, an unfinished series and even more in its theme and dramaturgy, Le cantique des cantiques (1853), a work by Moreau appearing in the Musée des Beaux Arts of Dijon. The figure on the right brandishes a Greek or Roman helmet in front of a figure wearing a turban. If the drawing remains exceptionally well made and all the more virtuoso within this tight format, a tropism of Gustave Moreau's art does not appear there, the absence of this femme fatale, seductress and original source of wrong. Two women nevertheless animate this oriental composition. One is sketched, the other from the back, accentuating the martial primacy which dominates this superb classic drawing.
Dimensions: framed: 20.5cm x 16.7cm / drawing alone: 7.8cm x 7cm