Louis Welden HAWKINS (Esslingen, 1849 - Paris, 1910) The Actress Louise Silvain as Monime, 1906 Watercolor gouache on black pencil lines and gum arabic highlights. Signed and dated on both sides in the center: "LOUIS WELDEN HAWKINS MARS. 06". In its original frame designed by the artist. 29 x 28,5 cm of curved form Provenance: - Former Eugène-Charles-Joseph Silvain (1851-1930) collection, husband of the model. - Former collection Jeanne-Louise-Pauline Silvain (1892-1983), his daughter. By descent until today. Exhibition: Société nationale des Beaux-Arts (No. 652), Paris, 1906. Bibliography: M. Guillemot, "Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. XVIe exposition ", L'Art et les artistes, tome III, avril-septembre 1906, p. 118. Hawkins exhibited at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, the Indépendants, the Libre Esthetique de Bruxelles and the Salon de la Rose-Croix. The aestheticism of his portraits in the form of masks, and his return to a quasi-Byzantine mysticism with the use of gold backgrounds, make him one of the leaders of symbolism. Born Louise-Julie-Marthe Hartman, the actress was the wife of the then famous actor Eugène Silvain (1851-1930). She entered the Comédie-Française in 1901 and became a member in 1910. She interpreted the classics and triumphed in particular in 1907 in the Electra of Sophocles. It should be noted that Hawkins made in the same style, using the Byzantine aesthetic, two watercolors representing the children of the actress: the future playwright Jean Silvain and Jeanne, who will marry the actor and director Edmond Roos (1878-1943).