Camille Joseph Etienne Roqueplan, French 1803-1855- The secret bath of...

Camille Joseph Etienne Roqueplan,
French 1803-1855-

The secret bath of the nymphs;

oil on panel, bears old printed label on the reverse, 44.5 x 35.5 cm.

Provenance:
Private Collection, UK.

Note:
Roqueplan was a Romantic artist specialising in landscape, historical and genre scenes, often featuring figures in idyllic natural settings. The present work is as a particularly suggestive take on the mythological scene of nymphs bathing in a woodland river. The artist has implicated the viewer as an intruder, thereby leading some of the women to hurriedly cover themselves, whilst others look boldly out. Roqueplan's work is highly distinctive, at once referencing the Classical landscapes of figures such as Claude Lorrain (1600-1682), and the 'fête galante' scenes of Rococo painters like Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806) and Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721).