It would not be inaccurate to describe Henri Gervex’s painting as sometimes “schizophrenic.”  As a young artist, he was trained for five years in the studio of the premier Academic master, Alexandre Cabanel, while later in his career, he developed an affinity for the art of the Impressionist painters, notably Degas, Manet and Renoir.  In fact, Gervex posed for one of the dancers in Renoir’s Bal du moulin de la Galette.  What is important to note is that as he matured, Gervex never abandoned his Academic training and technique when depicting the female nude, clearly working in a style reminiscent of his teacher, Cabanel as well as other traditional painters such as Paul Baudry.  One immediately recalls works such as Cabanel’s The Birth of Venus and Baudry’s The Pearl and the Wave.  In other words, Gervex’s bather in our picture, as is the young prostitute Marion in his famous painting, Rolla, are both descended from Cabanel and Baudry’s nudes.



 No subject was better suited for an Academically trained painter than the female nude.  Perfected after rigorous practice in drawing technique working from a live model; the result for the very best traditional artists was life-like in its realism.  In The Tub, Gervex paints a voluptuous young woman at her bath.  She stands in a large zinc basin which includes a sponge and a bottle of perfumed bath oil.  Her skin is soft, almost creamy with an air-brushed quality; this speaks to Gervex’s determination to paint a flawless finish.  At the same time, Gervex cannot resist giving a nod to his Impressionist colleagues, especially Degas. We see this in the maid servant holding the white robe, who is painted with looser brushstrokes and less specific detail; this reveals Gervex’s interest in painting more impressionistic and less traditional in this part of the painting.  In addition, the subject of a nude in a bathtub was an often-repeated theme in works by Degas. 



The model in this newly discovered painting is most likely the famous Parisian courtesan, Valtesse de la Bigne, who inspired Zola’s novel, Nana and was linked with many of the most well-known literati and artists of the day, including Courbet, Boudin and Detaille.  She and Gervex were lovers from 1876 to around 1880. Known for her trademark cascading red hair, Valtesse would often pose for Gervex; the most well-known depiction is a full-length portrait of her standing in a garden (Musée d’Orsay, Paris).  While our painting was shown at the 1888 Paris Salon, we will never be sure if Valtesse posed for Gervex at the time or if he immortalized her from the previous decade.