Alfred Philippe Roll

ALFRED PHILIPPE ROLL (France, 1846 -1919).
"Female nude".
Pastel on paper.
Framed with anti-reflective glass.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 67 x 69 cm; 79 x 81 cm (frame).
In this work the artist presents us with a classic theme of the history of art, although it is true that he uses a zenithal perspective, which brings a great singularity to the scene. Both the perspective of the work, as well as the technique used with tones that melt and melt into each other, added to the posture and attitude of the protagonist, introduce us into a world of sensual reverie, where we breathe an atmosphere defined by an air of melancholy or introspection, evoking the mythological or allegorical female figures of the classical tradition.

Alfred Philippe Roll was a French painter who studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, where he received training from Jean-Léon Gérôme, Henri-Joseph Harpignies, Charles-François Daubigny and Léon Bonnat. In 1869 he painted his first landscape and, the following year, he exhibited Environs de Baccarat and Soir at the Salon-de-Provence. During the Franco-Prussian War he served as a lieutenant in the militia.
His 1875 painting, The Flood in Toulouse, attracted great attention and is now preserved in the Musée Malraux in Le Havre. All his early production is in a romantic style, although it also shows influences of the Bolognese schools and Gustave Courbet. In 1877 he presented The Feast of Silenus at the Salon, now preserved in the museum of Ghent. It was from this moment that Roll decided to devote his work to the representation of everyday life, which meant a shift towards a more realistic style.
He began to paint portraits and, with his work The Miners' Strike of 1880, he achieved a prominent position in the French art scene, becoming one of the most recognized painters of his time and enjoying considerable success for the rest of his career. He was appointed official painter to the French government and received numerous commissions for works of art, including murals, ceilings and other architectural decorations.
In 1905 he was appointed president of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, an institution he co-founded. One of his disciples was Jules Ernest Renoux. In the 1880s, Roll "discovered" the Bordeaux painter Alfred Smith, an artist influenced by Courbet and Corot, whose work he actively promoted and supported in the development of his career.