Paul César Helleu was the most celebrated society portraitist of the French Belle Epoque – the ‘French John Singer Sarjent’, indeed Helleu and the great Anglo-American painter were lifelong friends. Composed with an unusual, elevated, Degas-inspired perspective (Degas and Helleu were also close friends), this chalk drawing (two portraits in one – imparting a sense of real presence and movement) is a highly personal record of his wife, the much feted Mme Helleu. Born Alice Guerin, she married Helleu when she was 16 (he was 22) and as his lifelong muse, she became famous throughout Europe as the epitome of Parisien elegance and sophistication – the figures of Elstir and Mme Elstir in Marcel Proust’s À la Recherche du Temps Perdu (1913) are based on Paul and Mme Helleu. Helleu’s work has been offered at auction multiple times, the record price being 907,500 USD for a portrait of Consuelo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough sold at Christie’s New York in 2016.