Ignace Spiridon (Rome, 1848 - Nice, 1930) - The Star of the Opera

Oil on canvas
147 x 85.5 cm
Signed I. Spiridon lower left

Agustina Carolina Otero Iglesias (1868-1965), La Belle Otero, is one of the most iconic female figures of the Belle Époque. A Spanish dancer, actress and courtesan, she became famous in Paris at the Folies Bergère for her charm, stage presence and relationships with powerful men from all over Europe, from royalty to bankers. La Belle Otero embodied the ideal of elegance, seduction and worldliness of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, influencing fashion, entertainment and even architecture
PROVENANCE:
Christie's, Fine Continental Pictures of the 19th and 20th Centuries, London, may 5th 1989, lot 213
Private collection, Genoa