949 - Probably L. Warel, female nude from behind with red cloth, kneeling, arms raised, 2nd half 20th c.

Probably L. Warel, female nude from behind with red cloth, kneeling, arms raised, 2nd half 20th c. Oil on canvas, on a stretcher, signed lower right, read as L. Warel, 2nd half of the 20th century. Kneeling female nude seen from behind on a blue and white draped cloth, both arms raised above the head holding a brilliant red cloth that rises on either side of the pinned-up brunette hair. Warmly lit flesh tones before a broadly and thickly impasted dark ground with reddish undertones. Good condition, edges with paint abrasion, slightly soiled. Image 50.5 x 40.5 cm (h x w). The nude seen from behind is one of the oldest motifs of nude painting: the back view of Venus was already a common subject in antiquity, and with Velázquez's "Rokeby Venus" (c. 1650, National Gallery, London) the female figure seen from the back became a model taken up by painters such as Ingres and Manet. Since the Renaissance, drawing the nude from the living model has been a fixed part of training in workshops and academies; the nude study trains the rapid grasp of posture and movement. Nude paintings of this kind from the second half of the 20th century continue figurative painting in the tradition of the studio model.