Pascal DAGNAN-BOUVERET (Paris, 1852 - Quincey, 1929) Eros shooting an arrow Oil, pen and Indian ink over pencil lines on tracing paper, lined with cardboard Dedicated and signed 'à Monsieur J. Allard, en souvenir de mon Eros, / PA-Dagnan-B' lower right Eros ticking an arrow, oil, pen and Indian ink on pencil strokes on layer, signed, by P. Dagnan-Bouveret 31.69 x 13.19 in. 80.5 x 33.5 cm Provenance: Jules Allard Collection ; Gérard Lévy Collection; Then by descent A student of Alexandre Cabanel and Jean-Léon Gérôme, Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret entered the Salon des Artistes Français in 1875. Quickly, under the influence of Jules Bastien-Lepage, he devoted himself to genre scenes of highly descriptive realism, which brought him his first great success and gradually established him as the leader of the naturalist movement in painting. He left Paris to settle in Franche-Comté, where he painted subjects drawn from everyday rural life. Using photography, he set up a space in his studio where his models could pose individually, before being incorporated into the final composition. In the 1890s, Dagnan-Bouveret's art became increasingly spiritual, imbued with a symbolism marked by a certain mysticism. Shooting an arrow, our large Eros on paper probably relates to the painting of the same subject exhibited by Dagnan-Bouveret at the Salon de la Société nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1895 (cat. no. 354), and now unlocated. In a very vertical format, the artist portrayed the graceful, adolescent build of the God of Love against a quickly brushed green background. Looking mischievous, his two white wings raised behind his back, he stretches his bow on tiptoe, while one of his arrows is already on the ground. This strangely seductive composition was dedicated by Dagnan to Jules Allard, who had opened an art gallery on rue des Capucines in the 2nd arrondissement at the turn of the century. Pascal DAGNAN-BOUVERET (Paris, 1852 - Quincey, 1929) 80.5 x 33.5 cm A student of Alexandre Cabanel and Jean-Léon Gérôme, Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret entered the Salon des Artistes Français in 1875. Quickly, under the influence of Jules Bastien-Lepage, he devoted himself to genre scenes of highly descriptive realism, which brought him his first great success and gradually established him as the leader of the naturalist movement in painting. He left Paris to settle in Franche-Comté, where he painted subjects drawn from everyday rural life. Using photography, he set up a space in his studio where his models could pose individually, before being incorporated into the final composition. In the 1890s, Dagnan-Bouveret's art became increasingly spiritual, imbued with a symbolism marked by a certain mysticism. Shooting an arrow, our large Eros on paper probably relates to the painting of the same subject exhibited by Dagnan-Bouveret at the Salon de la Société nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1895 (cat. no. 354), and now unlocated. In a very vertical format, the artist portrayed the graceful, adolescent build of the God of Love against a quickly brushed green background. Looking mischievous, his two white wings raised behind his back, he stretches his bow on tiptoe, while one of his arrows is already on the ground. This strangely seductive composition was dedicated by Dagnan to Jules Allard, who had opened an art gallery on rue des Capucines in the 2nd arrondissement at the turn of the century.