Lot 44: JAMES BERTRAND

signed and dated JAMES BERTRAND/1876 (lower right)

89 by 40 in.<br>226 by 101.6 cm

oil on canvas

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF JOHN MORRIN, NEW YORK
Kleinman Galleries, New York
The Haussner Collection, Baltimore; sale, Sotheby's, New York, November 2, 1999, lot 34A, illustrated
Private Collection, New York

Bertrand was born in Lyons, where he received his training in the studio of the academic painter Alphonse Périn (1798-1874). As was common in the atelier system, the emphasis of the teaching was on the study of the nude; only once this skill had been fully mastered were pupils allowed to add costumes or draperies to their painted figures. Bertrand travelled to Rome in 1857, where he remained for five years while submitting pictures for exhibition at the Paris Salon. As his talents developed, Bertrand became known for his allegorical pictures, and for his portrayals of the great heroines of European history and literature.

It is likely that the present composition, shown at the 1876 Salon, served as the inspiration for William Bouguereau's series of allegorical paintings of the four times of day (1881-84), in each of which the figure's pose is almost identical.