This rather sumptuous figure is by the Polish painter Wojciech Gerson (1831-1901). Born in Warsaw he worked and studied there most of his life, except for a two year period of study in St Petersburg. He enrolled in the School of Fine Arts of Warsaw at the age of just thirteen and graduated at the age of nineteen.
Festivities on Midsummer Night (1897)
Well known in Poland today, for his mountain landscapes and patriotic paintings, many of his works were stolen by the Germans in World War 2 and have disappeared. Today, often only black and white photographs of them remain, for example, this one, a picture of which appeared in a catalogue put together by the Polish authorities in 1950, listing works taken by the Germans.
Twilight (1991)
Summer Rain
He painted a number of nudes but they tended to be 'justified' by symbolic titles, such as these ones, Twilight and Summer Rain. The Rest, however, is one of his flimsier excuses for a nude, dates from 1895 but survived the war and is now in the National Museum of Warsaw. I've been to Warsaw a number of times but, sadly, have never had the time to visit the museum.
Nude Study
Gerson became a professor at the School of Fine Arts and was a noted critic and author. The Rest is an unusually sensuous nude among his output and he makes the slightly twisted body of his model glow against the muted, almost monochromatic background.
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