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GASTON LA TOUCHE (FRENCH 1854-1913)L'ARRIVÉE DE LA PRINCESSEOil on cradled panel, painted on gold groundSigned, inscribed 'STC' and dated '1911' lower right311.1 x 191.8cm (122¼ x 75½ in.)Provenance:Le Transatlantique 'France'. Collection Henri Cangardel, Chairman of the Compagnie Generale Transatlantique French Line. Private Collection, by descent. Private Collection, London.Exhibited:St Cloud ( Paris), Musée des Avelines, 16th October 2014 - 1st March 2015, Gaston La Touche, Les Fantaisies d'un peintre de la Belle EpoqueVersailles, Château de Versailles, Revival 1867-1937, 19th November 2019 - 15th March 2020Literature:Henri Frantz, Gaston La Touche 1854-1913, London 1914, p. 19. Louis Rene Vian, Arts d'ecoratifs a bord des paquebots francais 1880-1960, Paris 1992, p. 48 and 49. Selina Baring Maclennan, Gaston La Touche. A Painter of the Belle Epoque, Antique Collector's Club, UK 2009, p. 71, illustrated p. 73, pl 71, illustrated in colour. Musée des Avelines, Gaston La Touche, Les Fantaisies d'un peintre de la Belle Epoque, Saint-Cloud 2014, illustrated p. 91.La Touche could not have received a more appropriate commission than this large panneau decoratif for the First Class Dining Room of the liner France. A major exhibition of 323 works at the Galeries Georges Petit had firmly established his reputation in 1908 and this commission came a few years later in 1911.The four funnel France was built in St Nazaire, France in 1911 and was the most lavishly decorated liner of the day - it accommodated 517 First Class passengers from a total of 1623. Known as the Versailles des mers or the Chateau de l'Atlantique, the decor throughout was opulent gilded Louis XIV, expressed so grandly in the two tiered First Class Dining Room with its magnificent sweeping staircase ending in the centre of the salon - indeed, it was said that no self respecting woman would enter by any other way.It was for this staircase that La Touche painted this panel. Throughout his life he had had a love affair with the Palace and gardens of Versailles: painting several large canvases of beautiful women alighting from carriages and stepping into brightly coloured barges and gondolas. As early as 1895 he painted a suite of Quatre Saisons for the Salle de Mariage in the Mairie at St Cloud and it is here that La Touche used the format for this panel in his depiction of Spring. To echo the opulence of its setting, he has the viewer looking up at the central figure as she is helped from her carriage towards a waiting barge, complete with musical ensemble - she appears to be of royal standing as her entourage bow to show her status.The France was sold in 1933 and broken up by Dunkirk Breakers in 1934 - the whereabouts of this painting were unknown until its discovery 25 years ago.Photograph:French Line, S.S. France, Interior, Dining Salon,1924. [Byron Company (New York, N.Y.)][ 93.1.1.11467] Museum of the City of New York.