Art postcard Henri Gervex, La Naissance de Vénus, Petit Palais Paris

Sepia art postcard with a photographic reproduction of "La Naissance de Vénus" by Henri Gervex from the Collections d'Art de la Ville de Paris in the Petit Palais, published by Neurdein Phot. and distributed by Lévy et Neurdein Réunis, 44 rue Letellier in Paris, as number 262. The reproduction shows Venus as a reclining nude on sea foam, her head resting on her right arm, eyes closed in ecstasy or sleep. In the background, waves break against a cliff landscape with a dense cloud mass on the right and a twilight mountain silhouette on the left. The photographic image is set in an oval cutout within a dark blue card decorated with engraved garlands at the corners. On the right appears the printed caption "Collections d'Art de la Ville de Paris (Palais des Beaux-Arts) - Henri GERVEX - La Naissance de Vénus - ND. PHOT." and at the bottom the number "262". The card is in good condition, with some slight brownish spots at the edges and a small pinprick at the top.

The original is an oil painting on canvas measuring 160.5 by 200 centimetres, painted in 1907 by Henri Gervex and acquired the same year by the City of Paris for the Petit Palais. The theme of the Venus Anadyomene, the birth of the goddess from the sea foam, was deployed by Gervex in a contemporary impressionist register: the classical subject is rendered with a loose brushstroke, atmospheric coastal lighting and a conscious reference to Cabanel, Gervex's master. The Neurdein signature combined with the reference to "Lévy et Neurdein Réunis" dates this edition to between about 1920 and 1930, after the merger of the Parisian photographic publishing houses Léon & Lévy and Neurdein Frères in 1920.