Antoine-Émile PLASSAN (Bordeaux, 1817 - Paris, 1903) The Rest of the Model Mahogany panel with parquet floor Signed upper right: "Plassan. 16,4 x 21,6 cm Provenance: Sale of the artist's studio, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, April 23-25, 1903, no. 14 (sold for 285 francs). Born in Bordeaux in the early years of the Restoration, Plassan moved to Paris at the age of 18. Little is known about his training, except that he frequented museums, copying the masters. He seems to have been sensitive to the influence of Meissonier from an early age, whose interest in intimate, small-format genre scenes treated in the spirit of the Dutch of the 17th century brought him closer. The scene takes place in Plassan's studio, which can be recognized by the arched mirror in the center of the composition and which appears in his sale (Estate Sale, The Complete Works of John Ruskin, vol. 39, 1904, no. 223, p. 35). The reclining young woman is reminiscent of Titian's and Velasquez's Venuses, while the painter uses the mirror to make his self-portrait. We can compare our painting with La Babouche (private collection), exhibited at the 1879 Salon, representing the same model, this time wearing a long white shirt, sitting on the sofa in front of the same mirror. The young woman would be seized before or after the break for our painting, thus allowing it to be dated.