[Young woman sitting].

Drawing, red and black chalk, 33 x 24,5 cm, laid paper with unidentified watermark, signed and dated at lower corners (minor dampstaining, edges sl. browned).

Stuck by corners under passe-partout.

Intimate study of a young woman, dressing on a bench. She is identified on the drawing as "Mme Ledent". Thomas (1878-1972) was a Brussels painter, working in Molenbeek who often depicted night-life scenes in bars and portraits of ladies, with suggestions of decadence, temptation, adultery and prostitution in the poses of his women. His paintings of elegant women date mainly from the Belle Époque and Interbellum. In his painting of lascivious women he was a follower of the Belgian painter and etcher Félicien Rops.