Élisabeth SONREL (1874, Tours – 1953, Sceaux) Le Sommeil de la Vierge

Born into the provincial bourgeoisie, Elisabeth Sonrel received her early training in Tours under her father, Nicolas-Stéphane, and later in Paris at the Académie Julian under Jules Lefèbvre, who influenced her taste for Symbolist portraits of women. An admirer of the Renaissance, and particularly of Botticelli, she exhibited at the Salon from 1893 onwards, showing works quite faithful to the spirit of the Florentine master. These works blended Symbolist, mystical, and allegorical elements in a soft, pale palette, featuring Virgins and angels rendered in a rather elongated style, set in landscapes with trees of elongated trunks and simplified foliage. However, she did not belong to the Symbolist movement proper and appears to have had no connection with artists such as Alphonse Osbert or Maurice Denis. The influence of the English Pre-Raphaelites is also evident. At the very end of the 1890s, her style evolved towards Art Nouveau, with works sometimes reminiscent of Mucha, featuring highly contrasting colors.
Our watercolor is either the work exhibited at the Salon or a preparatory version. Indeed, Salon critics at the time referred to it as a "large watercolor." While our drawing is of a respectable size, does it truly correspond to this subjective description? We are more inclined to believe it is a modello, especially since the sheet is dated 1894. The painting, "The Sleeping Virgin," was awarded the Henri Lehmann Prize, a triennial prize of 3,000 francs awarded by the Academy of Fine Arts to encourage the classical studies of a painter under 25. The drawing was acquired for personal use by President Félix Faure and, reflecting its success, was reproduced extensively at the time. The Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna also owned a reproduction of our watercolor, which hung in her Mauve Room in the Tsarskoye Selo Palace, and which disappeared during the Second World War.