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Oil on canvas signed Henry Picou * representing an allegorical and bucolic scene with a beautiful elegant young woman with her two attendants, taking a flower stretched by a little Love sitting on a cornucopia filled with colorful flowers, a little cherub flying above of the scene, dated 1895, in a gilt wood frame, vintage late nineteenth century.
This painting is in good condition. Signed and dated see photos.
A note: some accidents and lacks on the frame (see red arrows).
Born in Nantes on February 27, 1824, Henri Picou perfectly represents the French Classical School of the second half of the 19th century. A pupil of Paul Delaroche in Paris, he befriended the painters Gérôme and Gleyre, whose influence can be found in his works.Painter of history, allegorical subjects and genre scenes, from 1847 he regularly participated in the Salon des French artists where he obtained rewards in 1848 and 1857. There he exhibited allegorical or mythological scenes that he painted in his huge studio on Boulevard Magenta, depicting often naked women moving in the midst of ancient settings. He received the Prix de Rome in 1853. He also executed very large religious frescoes, responding to orders from the Church of Notre Dame du Bon Secours in Nantes and the Church of Saint Roch in Paris where two murals he made in 1854, “The Preaching of Saint Paul” and “The Handing Over of the Keys to Saint Peter” adorned the Chapel of the Holy Apostles. These large compositions, the style of which lies between Courbet's naturalism and the symbolism of Puvis de Chavanne, are similar to his most characteristic work, “Allegory to Nature”, dated 1895, which can be admired at the Musée des Beaux. -Arts of Nantes.
Picou is also an excellent painter of history and under the Second Empire his works will be widely distributed in the form of lithographs in England and the United States.
(Cf website Galerie Ary Jan)
Artist very well rated on Artprice.
