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101
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Juana ROMANI (1867–1923), “Portrait of a Young Woman (Bust)”…
See original version (French)
101
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Juana ROMANI (1867–1923), “Portrait of a Young Woman (Bust)”…
See original version (French)
Estimate €4,000 - €6,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Juana ROMANI (1867–1923), “Portrait of a Young Woman (Bust)”, original painting by Foinet, signed in the top left-hand corner and inscribed ‘To Mrs Yvonne Plessix’, 40.7 x 32.9 cm. (previous restorations).
Of Italian origin, her family having emigrated to Paris in 1877, Giovanna Carolina Carlesimo sat for several
painters, including Falguière, Prouvé, Carolus-Duran, and most notably Jean-Jacques Henner. She was a member of
the ‘Atelier des Dames’, reserved for women, which Henner ran with Carolus-Duran. She met Ferdinand
Roybet in 1885, modelled for him in several compositions and entered into a marital relationship with him. At
the age of nineteen, she established herself as an artist under the name Juana Romani and exhibited at the Salon of the Société
des Artistes Français from 1888 to 1904. The State purchased two of her paintings, *Primavera* in 1895 and *Salomé* in 1898. She
achieved great success around 1900, both financially and critically (Camille Mauclair, Armand Silvestre,
Charles Yriarte, Henry Bordeaux repeatedly noted the influence of Velázquez). Her works
appeared regularly in popular illustrated magazines such as *L’Illustration*. Unfortunately, she fell
suffered from paranoid hallucinations from 1904 onwards and had to be admitted to the Ivry-sur-Seine mental asylum in 1906,
then, in 1923, to the Suresnes care home following several periods of remission.
Her art has been restored to its rightful place through several recent exhibitions, including the solo exhibition dedicated to her by the
Roybet Fould Museum in Courbevoie from May to September 2021, as well as by the Petit-Palais Museum during
the ‘1900: La Ville spectacle’ exhibition in 2014, and subsequently by ‘Elles: The Pupils of Jean-Jacques Henner’ at the Henner Museum
in Paris in 2024–2025.
Her style was inspired by her mentors, Henner and Roybet, but she broke away from them through a more in-depth psychological
study, with the face emerging from a sombre atmosphere that owes as much to Prud’hon as to Rembrandt. Her
ethereal and mysterious figures can be linked to the Symbolist movement.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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