Madeleine LEMAIRE (Les Ares, 1845 - Paris, 1928) Cléo de Mérode Gouache over pencil lines Cleo de Merode, gouache and pen, by M. Lemaire 5.51 x 8.07 in. 14.0 x 20.5 cm Provenance: Galerie Gilberte Cournand, Paris, December 1988 (according to a label on the reverse) ; Gérard Lévy Collection; Then by descent Bibliography: Corvoisier, Christian, Cléo de Mérode et la photographie, La première icône moderne, Editions du Patrimoine, 2007, reproduced on p. 111: "Cléo de Mérode". Dancer, courtesan, model and icon of beauty, Cléopâtre-Diane de Mérode (1875-1966), known as Cléo de Mérode, embodied innocence and quickly became the darling of the Belle Époque. With her porcelain complexion, brown hair, black eyes and lanky figure, she posed for a number of artists, including the sculptor Alexandre Falguière and the painters Edgar Degas, Jean-Louis Forain and Giovanni Boldini, and was also represented by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Capturing the singular beauty of her face, our superb little gouache drawing of Madeleine Lemaire is taken directly from a photographic portrait by Léopold Reutlinger. The artist has softened the expression, reinvented the dress and integrated it into the sumptuous cloister of an Italian Renaissance palace. Madeleine LEMAIRE (Les Ares, 1845 - Paris, 1928) 14.0 x 20.5 cm Dancer, courtesan, model and icon of beauty, Cléopâtre-Diane de Mérode (1875-1966), known as Cléo de Mérode, embodied innocence and quickly became the darling of the Belle Époque. With her porcelain complexion, brown hair, black eyes and lanky figure, she posed for a number of artists, including the sculptor Alexandre Falguière and the painters Edgar Degas, Jean-Louis Forain and Giovanni Boldini, and was also represented by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Capturing the singular beauty of her face, our superb little gouache drawing of Madeleine Lemaire is taken directly from a photographic portrait by Léopold Reutlinger. The artist has softened the expression, reinvented the dress and integrated it into the sumptuous cloister of an Italian Renaissance palace.