ECOLE FRANÇAISE ART NOUVEAU Les Joujoux Oil on canvas. Circa 1900. 200 x 82 cm. This whimsical panel is probably a decoration or the model for a lithograph. The image combines humor with impeccable craftsmanship. In the foreground, toys are piled up: bilboquet, croquet mallets, toy soldiers and a little girl's doll. Above, a cameo painting, hanging from the wall like a Japanese scroll, shows a cart with children. The scroll hangs from a mascaron, which is none other than a nanny's head, wearing a bonnet with ribbons ending in arabesques. The whole is framed by a frieze of wisteria, in the floral spirit of Art Nouveau. Few eras were as sensitive to the joys of childhood, babies and the charms of family intimacy as this one.

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