Description
Model Facing Front (Study for Models) II is Seurat’s oil study on wood from 1887: a nude woman stands at full length, facing us squarely, hands clasped low in front of her, on a white cloth and before a violet-grey wall. The museum records the work as Poseuse de face. The original is held by the Musée d’Orsay in Paris under accession number RF 1947 13. We make it as a hand-painted canvas painting in oils, in eight sizes or to your own measurements, and you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch.
| Title: | Model Facing Front (Study for Models) II |
| Other titles: | Poseuse de face · Model Facing Front |
| Painter: | Georges Seurat (1859–1891) |
| Year painted: | 1887 |
| Original size: | 15.8 cm x 25 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on wood |
| Painting style: | Pointillism |
| Located at: | Musée d’Orsay, Paris (acc. no. RF 1947 13) |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted in oil on linen, 8 sizes from 16 x 25 cm to 100 x 160 cm, custom sizes on request |
Model Facing Front (Study for Models) II – Georges Seurat
Who is in the painting?
A model the museum record does not name. The woman stands at full length, nude, squarely facing the viewer; her weight rests on both legs, her hands are clasped low in front of her, her dark hair pinned up. The head is slightly inclined and the face is summarised rather than drawn — this was a study of light on the body, not a portrait. She stands on a white cloth the painter left as a pale plane beneath her feet. Who sat is not known; the museum gives no name, and we add none.
What is on the panel?
An upright wooden panel barely the size of a hand. The background is a dense weave of cool violet, blue and grey dots; two pale rectangles hang at the upper left and right, of the kind that hang on a studio wall, and at knee height a dark horizontal band crosses the whole scene. The body is painted in warm ochre and pink dots, so it reads as lit from the front while the air around it stays cool. Along all four edges the painter set a band of blue-green dots of his own — that is not a frame but part of the work.
Why does this study matter?
Because it shows how the large canvas was made. Seurat did not sketch in pencil and then colour in: he tested the colour on a small surface before carrying it onto a canvas about two and a half metres wide. This panel settles the central pose of Les Poseuses — how far to turn the shoulders, where the shadow falls on the nearer leg. A French painter of method, Seurat painted the same pose more than once, and that is exactly why we also sell two versions: this one and the one with accession number RF 2000 23. They are two different works, not two prints of the same. The museum bought this panel at public auction in 1947.
What does the scene mean?
Work before the work. On the finished canvas this figure is one of three and stands in a scene with a story of its own; here she stands alone, without surroundings and without a task, and only a body in light is left. Pointillism is not decoration here: the body is built from warm dots, the air from cool ones, and it is exactly that difference that brings it forward. At home it is quiet and upright — it works where a subject has to be calm: in a bedroom, on a narrow wall, or paired with a second study.
Where does this study sit in Seurat’s work?
Immediately before the large canvas. The Models (Les Poseuses), held by the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, is what this panel leads to. The second version of the same pose is Model Facing Front (Study for Models), also from the Musée d’Orsay. The same dotted method carries Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte and The Circus, the painter’s last, unfinished canvas.
How is our hand-painted version made?
It is made with a brush and oil paint, never a printer. On this subject the dotted method is the substance of the work: our painter sets dot after dot, because it is exactly the difference between the warm dots on the body and the cool ones behind it that brings the figure forward, and because a smoothed skin would make a different work. We keep the band of dots along the edge of the panel as well. Because everything is done by hand, no two canvases are ever quite alike and every hand-painted copy stays a one-off. We do not yet hold our own photographs of a finished canvas for this subject; the first time it is painted we will photograph it and the photographs will appear here.
Which size for which wall?
If you do not know which: 60 x 95 cm. The original measures 15.8 x 25 cm, so our smallest size, 16 x 25 cm, is effectively one to one with it. The format is upright, close to a 5 : 8 ratio, so it fits beside a door, between two windows, or in a narrow recess where a landscape shape has no room. 40 x 60 and 50 x 80 cm suit a hallway or bedroom; 60 x 95 and 70 x 110 cm are the everyday living-room sizes; 80 x 125, 90 x 140 and 100 x 160 cm are for tall walls, where the figure reaches nearly life-size. Every oil painting reproduction of this subject is made to order.
Custom size, stretcher bar and frame
If none of the eight sizes fits your wall, we paint to your measurements and keep the ratio of the original so the figure does not become wider or shorter than she is; that is our custom size painting service. You can order the painting in three forms: as a rolled canvas without a stretcher, stretched on a wooden stretcher bar and ready to hang, or framed; you choose the form when you order. You choose the frame in our 3D frame viewer: on this subject it shows every profile we carry — gold, silver, black, white and natural wood — and it is for choosing a frame and nothing else. To see how the work looks on your own wall, use our separate room-visualisation service, ordered on its own.
Delivery and guarantee
Every copy is made to order in our Slovenian studio, so allow 15 to 45 days depending on the size. We ship it in the form you chose when ordering — rolled, stretched or framed — protected for transport, across the EU, customs-free. Before dispatch you approve a photograph of the finished work, and our returns policy applies to every order. The full range is in the Georges Seurat gallery, and his career and neo-impressionism are described in our article about Georges Seurat, which also explains what separates a good fine art reproduction from a poor one.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original?
In the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, under accession number RF 1947 13. The museum records it as Poseuse de face and bought it at public auction in 1947.
How does this study differ from the first?
They are two different panels of the same pose: this one carries the number RF 1947 13 and measures 15.8 x 25 cm, the other RF 2000 23. Both are in the Musée d’Orsay and we sell them separately.
Is the figure painted in full?
Yes. We see her at full length, from the pinned-up hair to the feet on the white cloth.
Is this a print?
No. The work is painted by hand in oil on canvas; the dots are set one by one and can be felt.
Which size should I choose?
For a living room, 60 x 95 cm; for the size of the original, 16 x 25 cm. The full guide is above.
Can I have a size that is not listed?
Yes. We paint to measure, keeping the side ratio of the original.
What is that band along the edge?
The painter’s own border in blue-green dots. It is not a frame and we do not cut it away — it belongs to the work.
Why is the face so summarised?
Because this is not a portrait but a study of light on the body. What interested the painter was how warm and cool colour meet on skin, not who was sitting.
Is the original for sale and what is it worth?
No. The panel is in the public collection of the Musée d’Orsay and is not for sale; a hand-painted canvas from us is the only way to have it at home.
How high should I hang it?
Centre at eye level, about 145–150 cm from the floor. At the large upright sizes hang it lower, so the figure’s head does not leave your field of view.
Is it suitable as a gift?
The smaller sizes make a good gift, and the subject is quiet rather than provocative. If you would rather leave the choice to the person receiving it, there is our gift voucher.
- Subject: a standing female nude at full length, squarely facing the viewer – 1887
- Original: 15.8 x 25 cm, oil on wood, Musée d’Orsay, Paris (acc. no. RF 1947 13)
- Ours: a famous painting recreated by hand in oils, eight sizes from 16 x 25 to 100 x 160 cm, as a rolled canvas, stretched or framed — your choice
- Worth knowing: the same pose exists on two panels, both in the Musée d’Orsay – we also sell both
