Lesbia and her Sparrows

Lesbia (1878) by the British painter John Reinhard Weguelin (1849-1927).

Weguelin was a typical Victorian artist and used mostly this popular neo-classical style.

A Tired Femme Fatale

Albayde (1848) by the French painter Alexandre Cabanel (1823-1889).

It's a nearly perfect drawn picture. The name is taken from Orientalist poem and refers to an odalisque. Cabanel shows this lethargic and content figure as an object of visual pleasure.
She is lazy, seductive but also dangerous, she's a real femme fatale.

Nude Painting

Chloé (1875) by the French painter Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1836-1911).

The painting won in Paris two gold medals and was later exhibited in Australia, where its nudity caused some severe scandals. Later it was purchased by an ex-digger for the then enormous sum of £800.

Innocence

One more of the sweet girls by the French painter Guillaume Seignac (1870-1924).

Innocence

It's easy to say that Seignac is pure kitsch. But I find him very interesting. At first he's a real academic painter of the late 19th century who has his roots deep in the Rococo.
Second, you can discover in this painting signs of Art Deco and of Pin-Up art.

So in my humble opinion Seignac is a real missing link!!

Eva

Eva (1889) by the Polish painter Pantaleon Szyndler (1846-1905).

I can't avoid the thoughts that this naive childish model hasn't much to do with the great seductress, the very first in history.
For me the whole thing is a lame excuse to sell a political correct nude painting.

Salammbô

Salammbô (1910)

The French painter Gaston Bussière (1862-1929) is citing here the protagonist of the very popular historical novel by Gustave Flaubert.

Cleopatra

Cleopatra by the French neoclassical painter Jean-Baptiste Regnault (1754-1825).

Regnault painted here a historical subject. But this effort emphasizes only how much he stayed in his time. Cleopatra looks a lot like these women of the Napoleonic era. So was more an excuse to paint a woman in such a lascivious pose. She's more the Vamp of a contemporary salon than a historical person.

Théodore Chassériau

Susanna bathing (1839) by the French painter Théodore Chassériau (1819-1856).

Chassériau treats this old biblical subject in a more exotic and orientalistic manner. That was the new romantic view.