Jacques Clement Wagrez (1850-1908), "Caesar and Cleopatra"

Jacques Clement Wagrez (1850-1908), "Caesar and Cleopatra"

Jacques Clement Wagrez (1850-1908)

"Caesar and Cleopatra". Watercolor on wove paper, 42 x 79 cm (sheet), 64 x 99 (framed). Signed lower right “Jacques Wagrez”.

Jacques Clément Bernard Wagrez was a French painter, illustrator and decorator.
Son of the portraitist Edmond Wagrez, with whom he began to study, J. C. Wagrez attended the Beaux-Arts de Paris in the studio of Isidore Pils, then that of Henri Lehmann. He then enrolled in the studio of Jules Eugène Lenepveu before leaving for Italy, where he completed his Grand Tour. The Venetian and Florentine Renaissance inspired his subjects and decorations.
In 1870, he sent his first watercolors and portraits to the Salon, which earned him a certain notoriety. As a fashionable painter, he was commissioned to decorate the interiors of Parisian palaces and private mansions and to produce a few delicately illustrated works.
Wagrez was a member of the Society of French Artists and was awarded the Palmes académiques.

Beautiful depiction of Caesar meeting Cleopatra, rich in narrative elements and detailed presentation of the staffage – classical subjects belonged to the favored themes of Jacques Clément Wagrez.

Provenance: Private Collection, France; Private Collection, Tallinn

The artwork is located in Tallinn, Estonia