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Description: signed with initials and dated '54 l.l., oil on canvas 54 by 47 cm.; 21 1/4 by 18 1/2 in. Painted in 1854, this and the following lot are preparatory sketches for the Four Seasons which were to decorate the dining room of the artist's brother at Brouchy. They were painted when the artist was thirty and just beginning to find the monumental style which was to become characteristic of many of his later works : Je n'avais pas une orientation sure lorsque j'entrepris la decoration... J'ai trouve la mon chemin de Damas. (Le Figaro, 23 July 1892 and La Revue de Paris, 1 February 1911). For a full discussion and illustrations of the pictures in the dining room at Brouchy, see Puvis de Chavannes exhibition catalogue (op.cit.) pp.31-39. PROVENANCE The artist's estate. LITERATURE A. Segard. Fresques inedites de Puvis de Chavannes, 1976-77. EXHIBITED Paris, Grand Palais and Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, november 1976-77, no.10.