Philippe PARROT (1831-1894) - Picking flowers

Dimensions : 65 cm x 54 cm (with frame : 85 cm x 74 cm)

Born in Dordogne in 1831, Philippe Parrot studied at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris. Thanks to his innate talent, he won several first prizes for drawing, even though he had not yet received any formal artistic training. After returning to Périgord, he went back to Paris and trained at the Académie Suisse, where great masters such as Corot, Courbet, Manet, Monet, and many others.  From 1861 onwards, this painter exhibited superb nudes at the Salon. Compared to Ingres and Jean-Jacques Henner,  Parrot was awarded medals in 1868, 1870, and 1872. Women were his favorite subject. He depicted her in mythological and allegorical scenes, nude or clothed.

Parrot's paintings, which are very rare on the market, belong to the great period of academic nudes. His painting “Jeune fille au bain” (Young Girl Bathing), exhibited at the 1867 Salon, can be compared to Ingres' nude entitled “La source” (The Spring), completed in 1856. While Parrot's subjects lack the flamboyance of those of Bouguereau, his works exude a sense of calm and fulfillment. From 1880 onwards, his palette became lighter and his compositions foreshadowed a symbolist vision. Philippe Parrot's characters are infinitely elegant, his landscapes imbued with extreme poetry.

Parrot produced extremely meticulous paintings, but in very small quantities. This is why he is still relatively unknown to the general public today, even though several of his works were acquired by French museums as soon as they were completed. Among the most important are “Elégie” at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux, “Jeune fille au bain” at the Musée d'Art et d'Archéologie du Périgord, and “Sarah Bernhardt” at the Comédie Française.

Our work, created in 1887, is admirably well composed: the vanishing lines converge towards the point where the river disappears into a halo of light. This rural subject captures, almost like a photograph, a moment in life at the end of the 19th century. Here, Parrot paves the way for the painter Julien Dupré, a great specialist in the French countryside. In a suspended moment, the two young women with perfect faces seem lost in their thoughts. The clothing and figures are precisely drawn, while the landscape fades into the background, creating an almost unreal depth. This oil painting, on its original canvas, is framed in a gilded wooden frame.