Lot 107: Marie Louise Catherine Breslau (Swiss, 1856-1927)

Marie Louise Catherine Breslau (Swiss, 1856-1927) LIFE STUDY: YOUNG BOY signed upper right corner red and black chalk heightened with white on buff coloured paper 60 by 38cm., 23.5 by 15in> Provenance: Collection of Sarah Purser; Her sale, Mespil House, Dublin, 1943; Whence purchased by the present owner's sister-in-law Marie Louise Catherine Breslau met Sarah Purser at the Académie Julian in Paris, where she arrived during the summer of 1875. In November 1978 Purser enrolled at the Académie and was impressed by the talented Breslau, who had already gained a reputation as a talented artist among her peers. Breslau and Purser shared an apartment together for the duration of their studies and remained life-long friends, corresponding regularly long after Purser returned to Ireland. In 1879, with a portrait Tout passé, Breslau was the only student from the Académie Julian women's atelier to debut at the Paris Salon. Shortly afterwards Breslau opened her own atelier and became a regular contributor and medal winner at the annual Salon, Paris. Due to her success at the Salon and favourable notice from the critics, she received numerous commissions from wealthy Parisians and became well-regarded among her contemporaries, such as Edgar Degas and Anatole France. Breslau went on to become the third woman ever to be presented with France's Legion of Honour award>