The Grasshopper (La Cigale)  1872

Oil on canvas, 186.7 × 123.8 cm [br] National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Felton Bequest, 2005 Description: [i]La Cigale[/i] was first exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1872. One of Jules Lefebvre’s classic female nudes, the painting was presented as an allegorical illustration of a famous fable by Jean de La Fontaine (1621–1695), ‘The Ant and the Grasshopper’. In ...