Carlos Pellicer

CARLOS PELLICER Y ROUVIÈRE (Barcelona, 1865-1959)
"Femme à la fontaine".
Oil on canvas.
Provenance: Private collection, Paris.
Measurements: 120 x 60 cm; 145 x 88 cm (frame).

"Femme à la fontaine" represents a female nude next to a fountain, in a composition of marked vertical format that accentuates the monumentality and elegance of the figure, brimming with sensuality. The model appears from behind, in a pose of subtle contrapposto, wearing only classic ribbon sandals and a red ribbon in her hair. The blue-gray cloth she holds slides down her side, establishing a delicate contrast between the pearly luminosity of the flesh and the stony coldness of the surroundings.

The dynamic axis of the work is established by the vertical fall of the water, which springs from a fountain with a zoomorphic bronze mask, close to a faun or mythological creature. This crystalline flow introduces movement and lyricism in a scene dominated by stillness, idealized sensuality and an atmosphere of archaeological evocation.

The background, resolved in cardinal greens, aquatic blues, ochers and copper patinas, suggests aged marble, humidity and antique bronze. Reliefs of robed figures emerge in the background, reinforcing the allusion to a classical Arcadia or a Roman balneum. In the central molding appears the inscription "C. P. R.", integrated as an epigraphic inscription and understandable as the artist's monogram.

Rather than narrating a specific scene, the work proposes an image of mystery, sensuality and communion between the female body and the aquatic element. Because of its careful workmanship, its symbolist charge and its ornamental vocation, it is part of the refined taste of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, attracted by the modern reinterpretation of classical antiquity.

Carles Pellicer was born in Barcelona into a wealthy family, his artistic training was divided between the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona and the Académie Julian. He exhibited in the Paris Salons from 1893 a series of works marked by sensuality and allegory. His active participation in the artistic life of the city, as well as his close relationship with the social circles of the bourgeoisie, which will be his main customers, made Pellicer enjoyed great popularity in the Barcelona of his time.