Offered for sale from an important private collection of classical artworks, the full length portrait of a nude man standing in an artist's studio, by the French painter Jean Gabriel Domergue (1889-1962). Jean-Gabriel Domergue was a French painter often described as the inventor of the pin-up” for his wide-eyed, slender-necked portraits of Parisian women from the 1920s. He was born on March 4, 1889 in Bordeaux, France and studied at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. At the age of 17, he exhibited works at the Salon des Artistes Francais and in 1920, was awarded the prestigious Prix de Rome. Though he started his career as a painter of landscapes, by the 1920s he devoted himself entirely to portraits of women, ultimately painting over 3,000 images over the course of his life. He was a sought-after portraitist in aristocratic circles and also worked as a designer for notable couturiers, including Paul Poiret and Henry Marque. From 1955-1962 he was the curator of the Musee Jacquemart-Andre, organising exhibitions of the works of Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Goya and others; he was later named a Knight of the Legion of Honor and Fellow of the Academy of Fine Arts. He died November 16, 1962 in Paris, France. DIMENSIONS: (unframed) 81.3 x 66cm. PROVENANCE: an important London collection.