Arthur Roy Mitchell

A Beautiful Lady in White

c.1935

Louise Abbéma 1853–1927 Louise Abbéma (30 October 1853[1] – 10 July 1927) was a French painter, sculptor, and designer of the Belle Époque. Abbéma was born in Étampes, Essonne Born into a wealthy aristocratic Parisian family with close ties to the city’s artistic community, She began painting in her early teens, and studied under such notables of the period as Charles Joshua Chaplin, Jean-Jacques Henner and Carolus-Duran. Portraits of actors and actresses at the Comédie Française dominated her early works until she made a name for herself at the Salon of 1876 with her portrayal of the “Divine Sarah.” Abbéma ultimately executed multiple portraits and received recognition for her work at age 23 a bronze medallion of Sarah Bernhardt, with whom she was a close friend and possibly lover. Like most women artists of the time, Abbéma focused mainly on portraiture and genre scenes (images of everyday life). Her high-society portraits executed with a light touch and rapid brushstrokes reveal the academic and Impressionist influences that shaped her style. Her sitters included French diplomats and other notable members of society. Abbéma developed a variety of techniques using oil paints, pastel, and watercolor, and worked on various supports, including fans. Abbéma received commissions for panels and murals which adorned the Paris Town Hall, the Paris Opera House, numerous theatres including the Theatre Sarah Bernhardt, and the "Palace of the Colonial Governor" at Dakar, Senegal. Abbéma solidified her international reputation after exhibiting works, including two wall murals (on canvas), at the Women’s Building at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. A bust of Sarah Bernhardt sculpted by Abbéma was also exhibited at the exposition. Abbéma specialized in oil portraits and watercolors, and many of her works showed the influence from Chinese and Japanese painters, as well as contemporary masters such as Édouard Manet. She frequently depicted flowers in her works. Among her best-known works are The Seasons, April Morning, Place de la Concorde, Among the Flowers, Winter, and portraits of actress Jeanne Samary, Emperor Dom Pedro...

William Richard Waters Picture Size: 36 x 28" (92 x 72cm) Outside Frame Size: 44 x 36" (112 x 92 cm) Oil on Canvas signed bottom right and dated 1847 This painting is nearly 200 year...