Luis Ricardo Faléro

Good condition, lined; under UV: small dashes of older restoration to figure on right, heavy varnish makes surface difficult to read.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Luis Falero trained in Paris as a portraitist and developed a fascination for painting highly detailed renderings of the female nude. His hyper-realist style often set women in fantastical or mythological settings, which gave Falero the freedom to explore wild scenes of otherwise indecorous subjects. In Moonlit Beauties, ethereal nude maidens gracefully hover in the blackish-blue sky, their gossamer dressings swirling about them and their pale skin bathed in the silvery-blue of the stars shining at their fingertips. In creating this evocative image, Falero was perhaps inspired by the story of the Pleiades. The Pleiades were the seven beautiful daughters born to Atlas and the nymph Pleione. They served as virgin attendants to Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. According to one Greek legend, the beauties were being pursued by the amorous hunter Orion. The gods saved them by transforming them into twinkling stars. After his death, Orion too became a constellation, forever chasing the beautiful young maidens across the sky.