Jules Joseph LeFebvre, Woman in the Bath
Jules LeFebvre, Rome, Italy (Tournan-en-Brie, 1834-Paris, 1912)
Oil on Canvas, signed. Exhibited at the French Salon, 1864. Exhibited Jules Claretie, Peintes & Sculpteurs Contemporains. Deuxième série. Artistes vivants en janvier 1881, Paris, 1882-1884, P. 348.
Diana is the subject of this scene, wiping her foot after bathing, with a pose recalling the antique Spinario, the artist identifies this as his first nude, a Bather, painted in Rome and sent to Paris in 1863.
Jules Joseph LeFebvre
Best known as an allegorical painter who specialized in genre scenes, portraits, and nudes. His father, a baker, encouraged his sons artistic career and sent him to Paris at age sixteen. He studied with Léon Cogniet and entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1852. He competed for the Prix de Rome, winning a second place in 1859 and first place in 1861 with his painting of The Death of Priam. While living in Rome he painted this painting, his first nude, a Bather, which was sent to Paris in 1863.
Lefebvre became disenchanted with the academic focus on working from memory and sought to paint directly from life. The result was a series of statuesque women, both nudes and draped, whoch passed from his studio under the guises of such characters as Pandora, Diana, Sappho, Mary Magdalene, and Ophelia.