Charles Amable Lenoir (French, 1860–1926)
Day Dreams
Oil on canvas, 22 x 18 1/2 in.
Signed lower left: C.A. Lenoir
2012.9

A favored student of William Bouguereau, Charles Amable Lenoir followed the example of his master by painting beautiful young women, clothed and nude, tenuously set in ancient, mythological, or exotic scenes.. These images, which flourished from the middle of the 19th century, could be either portraits or representations of ideal types, shown in urban or rustic settings. Day Dreams is one of several paintings by Lenoir of young women in oriental costume—although it is not known if he ever traveled to the Middle East.