MARIE LAURENCIN (PARIS, 1883 – PARIS, 1956) A Young Nobleman in Front of His Palace 1932 Oil on canvas 27 x 42 cm. Signed and dated ‘Marie Laurencin 1932’ top right These two light-coloured figures, moving against the foreground of a verdant countryside, seem to float rather than run through this whimsical space. The dog, a slender white form, stands out almost like a cross against the canvas. He is followed by his master, sketched in the same style, but distinguished by the addition of two colours: the green of his doublet and the brown of his headdress. They are heading towards a bridge on the left, which spans a river. Just behind them, a building with geometric forms represents a castle flanked by two square towers. Simplified to the extreme, the light grey forms resemble a set of cubes whose openwork sides form openings—windows without frames—sometimes enlivened by a splash of colour, a curtain or a door. In the background, nature spreads its greenery across a rolling landscape. As is her custom, Marie Laurencin does not seek to depict any particular landscape, but rather to evoke an atmosphere, somewhere between dream and poetry. The colours play a role here akin to that of a backdrop. Placed side by side, without any gradations in tone, they do not seek to create volume or depth. The cool tones belong to the palette of the painter, who favours ethereal effects. The scene is reminiscent of a theatre set where a prince and his dog might set off for a walk. Marie Laurencin (1883–1956) was a French portrait painter, poet and illustrator. Enrolled at the École de Sèvres to train as a porcelain painter, as well as at the Académie Humbert, she became friends with Braque and Picabia. In 1907, she exhibited for the first time at the Salon des Indépendants alongside Picasso and Derain, thus dabbling in Cubism in her famous *Groupe d’artistes*, now in the Baltimore Museum. Her fame then grew in France, and later in Germany. Exiled to Spain during the First World War, she frequented the Dada scene, though her style proved largely impervious to the influences of those artists. It was during the interwar period that her career as a society portraitist reached its peak. Her distinctive style seeks not so much a likeness to the subject as a recognisable mask created by her palette of flat areas of cool colours. Whilst her portraits are fashionable works, they also express the search for an eternal femininity.