Luis FALERO (Granada, 1851 - London, 1896) Allegory of the Night Oil on canvas Signed and dedicated 'L Falero à mon bon ami Schenck' at bottom Allegory of the Night, oil on canvas, signed, by L. Falero 11.02 x 5.70 in. 28 x 14.5 cm Born in Granada into a wealthy aristocratic family, Luis Ricardo Falero entered the Naval Academy in 1866, intending to pursue a career in the Spanish navy. Disgusted with the navy and irresistibly drawn to the arts, he broke with his family and fled to Paris to study painting on his own. Fascinated by the sciences, in particular astronomy and chemistry, he befriended the astronomer Camille Flammarion and at the same time began training as an engineer, helping to found the International Society of Electricians in 1883. Exhibiting at the Salon from 1877 to 1886, Falero achieved a certain success with his unique style, combining nudes with orientalist or fantastic scenes. His reputation became international, and in 1887 he moved to London, where he benefited from a solid network of collectors and dealers who distributed his works as far afield as New York. Dedicated and presented by Luis Falero to his friend, the Franco-German painter August Friedrich Schenck, our two small paintings date from the artist's Paris period. They are rare sketches for two large compositions depicting the allegories of day and night, which have yet to be located. In a clever play of contrasts, the painter contrasts the attitudes and postures of the two naked women with the pink flesh floating in the sky. Associated with a sun setting over the ocean, radiating a powerful canary yellow into the atmosphere, the first woman, blonde, hides her face, accompanying the star in the background as it descends, surrounded by an elegant white drapery. In contrast, in the starlit darkness of night, the second woman, brunette, from behind, is captured as she rises to embrace the moon, leaving behind her swirling black drapery. While these subjects naturally reflect Falero's passion for astronomy, they also provided the young artist with an additional pretext for painting female nudes, to which he was genuinely fascinated. Luis FALERO (Granada, 1851 - London, 1896) 28 x 14.5 cm