Armand RASSENFOSSE (Liège, 1862-1934) Beauty with a transparent veil Watercolour gouache over black pencil Signed 'A. RASSENFOSSE' lower left The beauty with the transparent veil, watercolour and gouache with black pen, signed, by A. Rassenfosse 15.35 x 6.69 in. 39.0 x 17.0 cm Provenance: Gérard Lévy Collection ; Then by descent Combining a skilful graphic mix on cream paper, the subject of the drawing we are presenting appears to be similar to Armand Rassenfosse's work illustrating Baudelaire's Fleurs du Mal. Commissioned to illustrate the famous collection in 1899 for the Cent Bibliophiles edition, he produced over two hundred colour engravings. Here, the artist has fixed the features of this Baudelaire nude in a frontal, naturally suggestive pose. The transparency of the gauze gives pride of place to sensual, finely modelled flesh, while the face, beneath thick black hair adorned with a few scarlet feathers, reveals an intense, equivocal gaze. With its more carnal than ethereal canon, the figure illustrates a certain feminine ideal dear to Rassenfosse, whose expressive power is reminiscent of Klimt's decorative compositions. Armand RASSENFOSSE (Liège, 1862-1934) 39.0 x 17.0 cm Combining a clever graphic mix on cream paper, the subject of the drawing we are presenting here seems to be similar to Armand Rassenfosse's research into illustrating Baudelaire's Fleurs du Mal. Commissioned to illustrate the famous collection in 1899 for the Cent Bibliophiles edition, he produced over two hundred colour engravings. Here, the artist has fixed the features of this Baudelaire nude in a frontal, naturally suggestive pose. The transparency of the gauze gives pride of place to sensual, finely modelled flesh, while the face, beneath thick black hair adorned with a few scarlet feathers, reveals an intense, equivocal gaze. With its more carnal than ethereal canon, the figure illustrates a certain feminine ideal dear to Rassenfosse, whose expressive power is reminiscent of Klimt's decorative compositions.