A lady in reverie. Oil on a plywood panel, signed in the lower right corner, framed in a 1-1/8" wide gilt liner only with no outer frame, the panel size measuring approx. 14" x 12", and with the liner approx. 16" x 14-1/8". The pretty woman wears a contemplative smile, a matador's ornately decorated jacket with a ruffled blouse and a green tie. Her skirt is made of black Spanish lace over green. The background is plain, but to her right sits a silver jug on a table with some other objects, possibly castanets, including a red rectangular object with the initials V-R inscribed on the side.
A native of San Francisco, Harry Watrous is known for stylized figural works, academic portraits, and night scenes. In 1881, he went to Paris for five years and studied at the Julian Academy and in Bonnat's atelier. He was influenced by Jean Leon Gerome and William Bouguereau and especially influenced by Jean Louis Meissonier. His academic genre painting was so popular that a Parisian art dealer marketed it successfully in London as did prestigious American collectors before he returned to this country. Around 1905, his eyesight began failing, and he became more innovative, specializing in highly seductive, stylized female figure paintings. This model is seen in several of his paintings.
1,500/3,000 Sold $230.00
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