Oil on canvas, 59.5 x 39.5 cm.
Initials « FH » on the bottom right of the canvas. « Mytho » partially erased on the back.
Private collection. The actual owner has decided to keep this painting in the state he found it and frame it this way, as a conscious esthetical choice.
The painting has been found pressed like a blanket in the bottom of a trunk.
The resemblance with Heiura is very troubling!
It is the painting where the authenticity is the least certain, as the artistic touch is so radically different from the other creations of Hippolyte. This painting looks finer and more academic. It seems inspired from a photography by F.Homes, « Tahitienne » around 1895. A discerning eye could also distinguish a strange resemblance with the landscape in the back of the Joconde by Leonardo Di Vinci.
… From a truly fake story by Gaya…