M.S. Rau Nude Paintings

Workshop of Bartholomaeus Spranger 16th Century Flemish Leda and the Swan Oil on panel Retelling one of the most legendary Greco-Roman mythological tales, this exceptional oil on...

Richard E. Miller 1875-1943 American Bathers Oil on canvas on board Emanating the radiant beauty that defines American Impressionism, Bathers captures Richard Edward Miller at his expressive best. Painted during a period shaped by his time among the celebrated Giverny Colony, the work blends atmospheric color, lyrical brushwork and an instinctive sensitivity to light. Its romantic tone and refined handling highlight Miller’s role as one of the most compelling American painters to absorb and evolve the lessons of French Impressionism. In this striking composition, Miller bathes his figures in a warm, glowing light that reveals their elegance and ease. Soft contours and textured strokes create a painterly surface that feels immediate and alive. The shimmering palette of the distant water recalls the brilliance of Monet’s Giverny...

René Magritte 1898-1967 Belgian Le carnaval du sage (The Sage’s Carnival) Signed “Magritte” (lower right); titled and dated "Le carnaval du sage 1947" (en verso) Oil on canvas The enigmatic paintings of René Magritte have become some of the most familiar and celebrated of the Surrealist movement. Among the most influential of the Surrealist painters of the 20th century, Magritte is an artist of international renown, as beloved for his popular appeal as he is for the psychological intensity of his works. The present oil on canvas, entitled Le carnaval du sage, was executed in 1947 at the height of his career, and it is a tour-de-force example of the haunting, mysterious scenes that comprise his oeuvre. Painted in the years following the Second World War, Le carnaval du sage showcases several recurring themes from Magritte’s oeuvre. Chiefly, a juxtaposition between the visible and the hidden is keenly felt. Throughout his career, Magritte explores the psychological obsession with revealing what is hidden, particularly with regard to the human face. In his Le fils de l’homme, he obscures the face of a man in a bowler hat with an apple, while his Les amants (Metropolitan Museum of Art) conceals the faces of two lovers with white sheets. In Le carnaval du sage, Magritte juxtaposes the blatant nudity of his central figure by masking her face, simultaneously revealing and concealing her from the viewer. The work also incorporates two of Magritte’s most common tropes – the glass of water and the baguette. Lending the scene a strange sense of domesticity, they appear infinitely familiar and distinctly out of place, and thus heighten the uncanny effect of Magritte’s composition. In the background hovers a ghost obscured by a sheet, a figure which was of particular fascination to Magritte beginning in 1946. He once wrote to his fellow Surrealist Paul Nougé: "I saw in a dream an answer to the problem of the ghost: the traditional ghost draped...

Louis Ritman 1889-1963 American Nude No. 2 Signed "L. Ritman" (lower right) Oil on canvas This vibrant nude by famed American artist Louis Ritman epitomizes the artist's talent ...

the most important American Impressionists of his age. While many of his contemporaries focused on the landscape, Frieseke gained his inspiration from the figural, and in particular the theme of femininity. His works capture female figures engaging in traditionally feminine roles — strolling in the garden or posed in a domestic interior. At the Mirror...

Gino Piccioni 1873-1941 Italian Wind on the Beach Signed "G. Piccioni" (lower right) Oil on canvas One of Italy's most significant Post-Impressionist figures, Gino Piccioni devel...

William-Adolphe Bouguereau 1825-1905 French Jeune mère contemplant deux enfants qui s'embrassent (Young Mother Contemplating Two Embracing Children) Signed “W-Bouguereau” (bottom ...

Reuven Rubin Israeli 1893-1974 Orientala Signed “Reuven Rubin" Oil on canvas A striking and unique work rendered in a breathtaking jewel-toned palette, Orientala by Rueven Rubin ...

Erté (Romain de Tirtoff) 1892-1990 Russian-French Fleurs du Mal(The Flowers of Evil) Signed "Erté" (lower right) Inscribed 114.6 (en verso) Gouache on paper Captivating and vibrant, this colorful gouache entitledFleurs du Mal showcases Erté's masterful creativity and keen eye. Inspired by Les Fleurs du mal, the famed volume of poems by French writer Charles Baudelaire, this ensemble marries light purple and green floral motifs with the suggestive form of red lips poised for a smooch. This daring yet feminine appearance encapsulates the Art Deco allure for which the artist's creations are cherished. The sophisticated arrangement emanates the fundamental richness and theatricality that can only be accomplished by Erté, often hailed as the "Father of Art Deco." First published in 1857, Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal was controversial for its suggestive content and themes of decadence and eroticism. The volume provided a wealth of inspiration for Erté and he drew from several themes to create original fashion sketches...

Guillaume Seignac 1870-1924 French Mutine Signed “G. Seignac” (lower right) Oil on canvas A mischievous maiden dominates this garden scene by French Academic artist Guillaume S...

Childe Hassam 1859-1935 American The Bather Signed and dated “Childe Hassam” (lower right) Oil on canvas Considered by many to be America’s foremost Impressionist painter, Childe Hassam composed his tranquil and intimate oil on canvas The Bather in the early years of the 20th century. The creation of the artwork aligns with a period of Hassam’s career where the artist’s palette was transforming, matching ever closer with the pale and pastel hues of French Impressionists like Claude Monet. Even the subject — a nude woman — represents a greater alignment with the Impressionist project, as artists of the movement and their non-mythological and non-biblical nudes still generated cries of indecency. With Hassam’s signature brushwork and attention to color, The Bather serves as a dream-like vision, serene and sensuous, of a young woman bathing in a lush forest. While the artist's skill for landscape painting is on display, it is Hassam's command of form, light and color that brings this canvas to life. He creates a captivating composition, placing the nude subject in the bottom left of the canvas. The soft, undulating curves of the woman's body in contrapposto and the glow of her fair skin are balanced by the strong verticals and deep earth tones of the tall trees to her right. Hassam delicately frames the nude in the vivid blues of the distant water, building luminous color that further draws the viewer’s eye and results in a somewhat voyeuristic appeal — endowing his nude with both a natural innocence and an intentional sensuality. Born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, Childe Hassam began his artistic career as a freelance illustrator, working for national publications such as Harper’s Weekly, Scribner’s Monthly, and The Century. His first solo exhibition of watercolors took place in Boston in 1883, and he quickly catapulted onto the international scene, winning a bronze medal at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1889. The year before the present work was created, he received the Webb Prize from the Society of American Artists for another landscape painted at Gloucester. Hassam would receive numerous other awards throughout his career, most notably the Gold Medal for Distinguished Services to Fine Art from the American Dealers Association. A true master, Hassam depicted a way of life characteristic of both American and French society, and his work elucidates a critical chapter in American art history. Today, his work resides in the Oval Office of the White House and in numerous important museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, among others. This painting will be included in Stuart P. Feld's and Kathleen M. Burnside's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist's work. Circa 1905 Canvas: 24 1/2“ high x 20 18” wide Frame: 35 7/8“ high x 31 1/4” wide x 3 1/4“ deep Provenance: Private Collection of William Young...

French Academic painter Guillaume Seignac was renowned for his masterful treatment of the idealized nude. His languishing female subjects based on Greco-Roman prototypes were and rem...

A beautiful example of the Japanese art form known as shunga, this sensual work depicts woman exploring her sexuality. Hand-painted on paper with splashes of vivid gouache color, the...

Signed “G-Seignac” (lower right) Oil on canvas French Academic painter Guillaume Seignac was renowned for his masterful treatment of the idealized nude. His languishing female subje...

Mystical and mysterious, a mythological Ondine rests beside an ethereal forest pond in this majestic, original oil on canvas by French Symbolist Pierre-Amédée Marcel-Béronneau. A stu...

This extraordinary Italian gouache and oil on canvas brings two of the most popular characters from Greek mythology vividly the life - the nymph and the satyr. Both creatures are famed for their carefree natures and lascivious temperaments, and tales abound of satyrs pursing nubile nymphs in order to rape or seduce them, usually with little success. One such narrative humorously unfolds in the present piece, which depicts an indignant satyr captured by three nymphs with a golden net. The relationship between these two mythological creatures was a popular one for artists throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, though its origins stretch back to antiquity. Both satyrs and nymphs...