Description/    

 A women, nude, lounges at the edge of a river. Occupying. Occupying all the height of the table, this woman is seated on the bank while, with her feet she leans on the rocks immersed in the water. Her body, white as milk, contrasts greatly with the dark palette background, depicting the forest in which the scene takes place. Alone, with a pensive air, her head slightly tilted, her gaze is directed towards the river which slowly flows at her feet. With her two hands, she holds a tree branch.
The right side of the painting opens towards a perspective of the forest, allowing a modest waterfall to appear, the only moving element of this painting. However, the construction of the drawing also gives a movement to this canvas: the silhouette is completely in diagonals and curves. The right leg is shaped by a large oblique line, occupying almost half of the canvas, while the bust and the two arms, raised, constitute an opposite line which the right leg compliments. The curve of the chest and the stomach brings a roundness to the composition.

    Contrary to the nudes by Ingres or the academic painting of the time, Paul-Désiré Trouilleber gives us a realistic woman, not stylized. The fold of the stomach and the dent in the buttocks are signs of particular attention brought to the female body and its authenticity. The trace of some re-paintings suggests that the work that Trouillebert had to provide to bring this work to production.
Paul-Désiré Trouillebert was born April 29th 1831, on the boulevard des Italiens in Paris. Starting in 1852, he was a violinist at the “Theatre Lyrique” directed by Nestor Roqueplan, at the place du Chatelet. His brilliance provided him with great success. However, he went to paint in the surrounding countrysides as soon as he had a free moment. At the death of his father, in 1885, he decided to dedicate himself uniquely to painting. For this, he entered in the workshop of Ernest Hebert (1817 - 1908), then located at 11 rue Navarin. At Herbert’s studio, a portraitist renowned who was interested in eastern motifs while in fashion and in nudes, he essentially copied the style of his teacher, according to the usage in the 19th century. Trouillebert would be brought to produce the portraits that his teacher id not want to paint. Trouillebert’s stays with Hebert were irregular, particularly because of the frequent trips taken by his teacher. That’s why Trouillebert completed his education in the workshop of Charles Francois Jalabert (1819 - 1901), where he perfected his art of the portrait. Known today for his abundant work as a landscape painter, Trouillebert also, like we see in this piece, produced a large number of nude portraits during his life. His nude women were greatly appreciated by the prudish society of the Second Empire. The nude became a central subject in his work. He painted practically all the nude poses in painting: half-nude and full nudes, nudes standing and laying down, nudes viewed from the front and very often, nudes viewed from the back. The framework for these nude representations greatly varied. Besides biblical or mythological themes, Trouillebert mainly painted beauties in the flesh and blood, mortal, who looked at themselves in a mirror, fished or stretched after bathing at the banks of streams or springs. Near the end of his life, Trouillebert confessed that he had a lot of satisfaction in painting nudes. The paining that we present is a part of this production but separates itself by its dimensions, rather exceptional in the work of the painter, while the large-sized nudes were relatively appreciated at the time.