Belle Époque Splendor: The Discerning Eye of a Collector
Belle Époque Splendor: The Discerning Eye of a Collector
Fernand Toussaint
Arranging the Bouquet
Auction Closed
May 25, 06:44 PM GMT
Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Fernand Toussaint
Belgian
1873 - 1963
Arranging the Bouquet
signed FToussaint (lower right)
oil on canvas
canvas: 51⅜ by 39⅛ in.; 131 by 99 cm
framed: 59 by 47½ in.; 149.6 by 120.5 cm
Private collection, United States (acquired from the above)
Sale: Sotheby's, New York, 3 May 2000, lot 281
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner
A brilliant draughtsman and colorist, Fernand Toussaint was a precocious student at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, where he was accepted at the age of fifteen. Three years later, he moved to Paris where he continued his studies under the tutelage of Alfred Stevens. While excelling at a variety of subjects, Toussaint became known as an exceptional painter of women.
In Arranging the Bouquet, the artist fused the crosscurrents of French Modernism and Post Impressionism with the Academic portraiture of Gainsborough and Reynolds, which influenced him profoundly during his long stays in London. His serene interiors exuding elegance and sensitivity were very popular with critics and collectors throughout Europe and the United States.