Antique & Vintage Postcards

Emerging from rough-hewn stone as if born from the earth itself, a graceful marble nymph leans into a craggy outcrop in this exquisite real-photo postcard reproduction of H.-L. Levasseur's celebrated sculpture Nymphe à la source — exhibited at the prestigious Paris Salon of 1905 and captured here in luminous blue-grey photographic silver by the noted French publisher ND Phot (Neurdein et Cie). The figure's flowing hair, serene downward gaze, and softly naturalistic anatomy exemplify the French academic tradition at its most refined, and the dramatic dark-background lighting gives the image an almost three-dimensional presence even at postcard scale. Henri-Louis Levasseur (1853–1934) was a prolific Salon exhibitor whose work in marble and bronze frequently featured idealized female figures drawn from classical mythology; this piece was among his most admired. The back is a pristine undivided-back "Carte Postale" format with a decorative SPG publisher's stamp — never mailed, never addressed — making it a clean example of the art postcard trade that flourished around the great Paris Salons in the early twentieth century.