Camille Metra, A woman braiding her hair by Atelier Liesjes

Young girl grooming her hair. Her cut consists mainly of a long ponytail that she braids.

The artist was born on 28 November 1864 and died on 13 November 1936.

The pastel colour is possibly La Cigale, exhibited at the Salon of the Sociéte Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1894. The title is taken from La Fontaine's fable The Grasshopper and the Ant and refers to the fate of one who (like a grasshopper) 'sings everything'. summer' rather than preparing (like an ant) for the rigours of winter. By Métra's time, La Cigale had become a metaphor for the beautiful bohemian who lives without thinking of the future. La Cigale, a popular artistic subject in the late 19th century, was usually depicted as a young brunette against a green background of foliage, usually with a musical instrument, but not always. Be that as it may, with her wavy locks emerging from a dense forest of vegetation, Métra's young woman is an archetypal Art Nouveau subject.