Composition

A similar pose, composition, and subject, is seen in r.: Morning Glories; v.: Nude study [M.0410] and r.: Study for 'Morning Glories'; v.: Standing nude [M.0411], which have been dated about 1873. In both cases the drawing on the verso shows a nude figure.

Similar poses with minor variations occur in numerous pastels from the early 1870s on, such as r.: A woman holding a spray of flowers; v.: A woman holding up a scarf [M.0401] and – from the mid-1880s – Harmony in Blue and Violet [M.1076].

Technique

The panel appears to have been partly primed with off-white paint, but areas, particularly around the head and down the right edge, look totally unprimed, revealing the red colour of the wood. It is painted very thinly, and may have been partly rubbed down. There are faint lines that suggest there was a graphite under-drawing. The remaining paint, although loosely applied, is almost iridescent. There are signs that the figure may have originally have been further left. It may have been painted over another figure, either standing or reclining, because some of the brushstrokes make no sense, and some, particularly around the head, appear to be concealing rather than clarifying the pose. The paint does not always reach the edges of the panel. The horizontal brushstrokes that may indicate a rug, or the balcony, are inconsistent, those on the left differing from those on the right.

Conservation History

Unknown. Several 20th century photographs do not show any radical changes of condition. It appears to have been scraped and there is some surface abrasion. The edges of the panel have been abraded by a mount or frame.

Frame

Grau-style, made in American by M. Grieve, 1930/1940s. 1

Size: 33.7 x 27 x 4.5 cm (13 1/4 x 10 5/8 x 1 3/4").