Charles Joseph Watelet

Lady With A Rose

Charles Joseph Watelet

Lady With A Rose

A wonderful early 20th-century half-length portrait of a lady by Belgian painter, Charles Joseph Watelet (1867-1954).

She’s holding a rose close to her face as she captures its scent for the very first time.

Her skin tones are beautifully rendered with Watelet’s characteristically soft touch and the light is reminiscent of the impressionists.

Watelet had a talent for portraiture and was prolific from the 1900s through to the 1930s. He seemed to favour women, particularly during the Art Deco era.

This piece is unusual due to its unfinished nature and has only recently surfaced following years within a private collection in Belgium. The sketched arms and torso give it a mysterious, almost ethereal, quality and we love it.

Watelet studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels and won a gold medal at the Paris Salon in 1925.

The painting is housed within a fine hand-carved foliate frame with a decorative inner border. Signed ‘Esquire C J Watelet 1909’ in the bottom right.

Medium
Oil on canvas
Size
27” x 33” / 68cm x 84cm
Year of creation
c. 1909
Provenance
France
Condition
Artwork in excellent condition. Frame with various losses to its gilding.
Artist’s auction highlight
£15,710 achieved at Galerie Moderne, Belgium, in 2007.

Conservation & History

We care profoundly about our role as custodians and every piece in the collection has been assessed by our conservator. When required, we undertake professional restoration carefully using reversible techniques and adopt a light touch to retain the aged charm of each work. We also often restore frames rather than replace them as many are original and selected by the artists themselves.

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