LEON PERRAULT (Poitiers 1832 – Royan 1908)
A Young Girl with a Book in a Garden
signed and dated in the lower right L. Perrault 1877
oil on canvas
39 7/8 x 25 inches (101.28 x 63.5 cm.)
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, France
Schiller & Bodo, New York from whom purchased by
Private Collection, Palm Beach until the present time
In the nineteenth century the depiction of women reading in gardens defined the sitter as refined, educated and possessing interests beyond her own domestic and social spheres. Reading further symbolized the world of imagination. Such images also reflected the rise of the middle class who had the means to take an interest in the arts and literature as well as the time to read. “Reading was now considered beneficial to women, but only as long as the selected literature was not morally questionable”.[1]
In this work Leon Perrault underscores the innocence of his subject by seating her in the midst of a garden of wildflowers, dressed in a white satin gown, while dreaming of her future in an ever-expansive world.
Perrault began his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in the studios of François-Edouard Picot and William-Adolphe Bouguereau. He first exhibited in the Salon in 1861 where had a storied career, winning medals in 1864, 1876 and 1878. In 1878 he was also named Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur. In 1889 and 1900 more medals were awarded for his entries to the Exposition Universelles.[2]
Along with the portrayal of young women, Perrault favored putti, mothers and children, historical and mythological subject matter; with his paintings proving very popular both in Europe and America. His works formed part of the permanent collections of museums in Baltimore; Bordeaux; Chantilly; La Rochelle; Manchester, United Kingdom; New York; Paris; Pau; Poitiers; Stuttgart; and Wolverhampton, United Kingdom.
[1] Christiane Inmann, Forbidden Fruit, A History of Women and Books in Art, Prestel, New York, 2009, pp. 99, 132.
[2] Biographical information taken from E. Benezit, “Leon Jean Basile Perrault” in Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs, volume 8, Libraire Gründ, Paris, 1976, p. 231.