Jeunes Femmes Au Bain
Jeunes Femmes Au Bain (Young Women Bathing) c1879 by French Painter Henri-Pierre Picou (1824 – 1895); known for his early portrait work and historical subject matter and in his later years for his Allegorical and Mythological themes
Jeunes Femmes Au Bain shows women of privilege from an ancient time, being catered to as they are taking a bath, in what may be considered a bath house; while one servants pours fresh water into the large basin and another carries a box out of the room as she follows another young lady that has finished washing.
In Jeunes Femmes Au Bain we can also see two girls of about five or seven years of age in the scene with one watching the servant pour the water into the large basin from a large red pottery vase; while the other young girl plays with a slave that is sitting on a sheet that is on the floor.
To the far left we can see another slave tending to the needs of another young lady that is relaxing on a plush couch fitted with blue and white linens.
Jeunes Femmes Au Bain is a retouched digital art old masters reproduction of a public domain image that is available for purchase as a wall decor art print.
Info Below Derived From Wikipedia.org
Henri-Pierre was an academic painter and one of the founders of the Neo-Grec school, along with his close friends Gustave Boulanger, Jean-Léon Gérôme, and Jean-Louis Hamon, also academic painters.
All of the men studied in the workshops of both Paul Delaroche and later Charles Gleyre. Picou’s style was noticeably influenced by Gleyre; while the rest of the group generally painted classical and mythological subjects.
Picou first debuted is artistic style at the Salon in 1847; and the following year was awarded a second-class medal for his painting, Cléopâtre et Antoine sur le Cydnus. Also known as Cleopatra on the Cydnus, it is commonly regarded as Picou’s masterpiece.
The showing at the Salon in 1848 of Cléopâtre et Antoine sur le Cydnus was written about by the critic Théophile Gautier, who felt that the subject matter was too ambitious, but also said that “As it is, it gives the best hope for the future of the young artist, and ranks among the seven or eight most important paintings of the Salon.”
In 1875, the painting was exhibited in New York, and afterward found a place on the walls of a private art gallery in San Francisco.
Picou maintained a large workshop in Paris on the Boulevard de Magenta, which provided him room to work on his expansive frescoes. His popularity continued to rise and he went on to win the Second Prix de Rome in 1853 for his painting, Jésus chassant les vendeurs du Temple (The Moneylenders Chased from the Temple), and another second-class medal for his Salon painting in 1857.
From the time of his debut in 1847, he became a regular at the Salon, showing almost every year until his final exhibit in 1893. He has been called the most fashionable painter towards the close of the Second French Empire; and received many commissions, including commissions for large religious frescoes from many churches, which included the Église Saint-Roch.
