Paul Cesar Helleu Vannes 1859 - 1927 Paris "Le Masque" Color etching on handmade paper Hand-signed in pencil lower right Representation: 52.5 x 33 cm Frame: 93 x 72 cm Old frame from the 19th century, acid-free passe-partout, museum glass Authenticity is guaranteed in writing Paul César Helleu trained as a ceramicist and also took drawing lessons. Against the wishes of his widowed mother, he went to Paris in 1876 to study at the École des Beaux-Arts under the Salon realist Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824–1904). Within a very short time he became acquainted with the city's well-known artists, including Henri Matisse, Edgar Degas, James Tissot and Giovanni Boldini, and with the writer and art collector Robert de Montesquiou. He soon became close friends with John Singer Sargent, but his circle of acquaintances also included Auguste Rodin, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, [James McNeill Whistler, Oscar Wilde, Coco Chanel, Charlie Chaplin and, above all, Marcel Proust.] Helleu established himself in the 1890s as a successful painter of the rich and famous of the Boulevard Saint-Germain. His wife, Alice Guérin (* 1874), was his muse and his preferred model. This piece has an attribution mark, I am sure that it is completely authentic and take full responsibility for any authenticity issues arising from misattribution