Dominating a grand lecture hall of one of France’s oldest universities is a classical fresco of the god Apollo and the Muses on Parnasses, created at the turn of the 20th century by French artist Pascal Dagnan- Bouveret (1852-1929).
A pencil and pastel study depicting the youthful head of Apollo wearing his famous laurel wreath was made by the academic painter as a preparatory study for the commission at the Sorbonne in Paris.
Offered by Derbyshire saleroom Hansons (20% buyer’s premium) on October 9, this 21 x 18in (54 x 46cm) work, dated 1901, was consigned from a property a few miles from where the sale was held at Bishton Hall in Staffordshire.