Eugène-Robert POUGHEON (Paris, 1886 - 1955) Study for the Amazons (with magpies) Watercolour gouache, pen and brown ink over pencil lines Study for The Amazons (with magpies), gouache, watercolour, pen and brown ink, by E.-R. Pougheon 4.72 x 5.12 in. 12.0 x 13.0 cm Provenance: Gérard Lévy Collection ; Then by descent Our gouache watercolour is preparatory to an important painting by Pougheon, the Amazons (with magpies), probably painted in Rome in 1923 and exhibited among the "consignments from Rome" of the boarders at the Villa Medici in 1925. The whereabouts of this painting are currently unknown. Influenced as much by his classical training as by the experiments of the Cubists, Pougheon fixed on the sheet the geometric bases of an integrated composition in an almost square format, using perspective to judiciously balance the different elements. The architectural background, with its typically Roman balustrades probably borrowed from the casino at the Villa Borghese, frames the scene on the right. Here, the artist devotes most of his efforts to the attitudes of the Amazons in the middle register, whose slender silhouettes with spindly legs stand out against the clear mass of white horses, in a skilfully orchestrated ideal balance. Eugène-Robert POUGHEON (Paris, 1886 - 1955) 12.0 x 13.0 cm Our gouache watercolour is preparatory to an important painting by Pougheon, the Amazons (with magpies), probably painted in Rome in 1923 and exhibited among the "consignments from Rome" of the Villa Medici boarders in 1925. The whereabouts of this painting are currently unknown. Influenced as much by his classical training as by the experiments of the Cubists, Pougheon fixed on the sheet the geometric bases of an integrated composition in an almost square format, using perspective to judiciously balance the different elements. The architectural background, with its typically Roman balustrades probably borrowed from the casino at the Villa Borghese, frames the scene on the right. Here, the artist devotes most of his efforts to the attitudes of the Amazons in the middle register, whose slender silhouettes with spindly legs stand out against the clear mass of white horses, in a skilfully orchestrated ideal balance.