Jul 18
Nereis (Nereid) (1882) by Marcel Meys (French, active 1880 – 1901), signed and dated ‘Marcel Meys / 1882’ (lower right), oil on canvas, 215 x 110cm. (84½ x 43in.), Private Collection
#Nereis#Nereid#Marcel Meys#painting#my upload#oil on canvas#art#19th century#the painting reflects the late-19th-century fascination with the academic style#Mythological Symbolism: The painting visualizes a Nereid in her natural aquatic habitat#representing the personification of sea foam waves and the mesmerizing allure of the ocean#19th-Century Academic Art: Meys was heavily influenced by Alexandre Cabanel#whose masterpiece The Birth of Venus is clearly echoed in this piece#The painting is designed to celebrate the idealized female form grace and mythological antiquity#which were highly prized in the Paris Salons of the 1880s#Artistic Movement: Showcased at the Paris Salon in 1882 it aligns with the period's broader aesthetic appreciation for romanticized#poetic and sometimes lightly eroticized classical themes
