Rating and value of paintings by Marie Aimée Lucas Robiquet

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Rating and value of artist Marie Aimée Lucas Robiquet

Considered one of the most important protagonists of Orientalism in the 20th century, Marie Aimée Lucas Robiquet leaves behind a unique artistic repertoire imbued with the colonialist artistic spirit.

This legacy consists of paintings that are mostly oils on canvas. At present, the prices of her works are rising under the auctioneers' gavel.

Her paintings and other works are particularly prized, especially by French and American buyers, and the price at which they sell on the art market ranges from €150 to €287,000, a considerable delta but one that speaks volumes about the value that can be attributed to the works of Marie Aimée Lucas Robiquet.

In 2021, a polychrome composition entitled L'enrichissement par le savoir sold for €275,000, while it was estimated at between €200,000 and €400,000.

Order of value from a simple work to the most prestigious

Style and technique of artist Marie Aimée Lucas Robiquet

Marie Élisabeth Aimée Robiquet (1858 - 1959)was a French Orientalist artist trained in the academic tradition, active between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In her work, she adopted precise execution, solid drawing and great attention to volume. Her brushwork is sometimes freer in the backgrounds, adopting a fluid, almost impressionistic line, especially in her desert landscapes or North African skies.

She plays on contrasting effects between sharp figures and more sketchy backgrounds, with the aim of energizing her scenes. Her palette is warm and luminous, suited to oriental scenes. She is known for her use of sandy tones, ochres, burnt reds and off-whites, well-suited to the Saharan ambience.

Marie Aimée Lucas Robiquet excels in low-angled light effects, typical of the South, and in rendering dust, wind and veiled sun. Fabrics and finery are often treated with chromatic attention to detail: turbans, haiks and burnous are painted with a wealth of textures.

The figures (Berber women, children, horsemen, beggars) are not idealized but treated with respect, in an almost ethnographic vein. She differs from male orientalists in that her approach is more empathetic, less sexualized and closer to the observation of everyday life.

She often focuses on simple gestures, moments of rest or market scenes, in the manner of a travel diary. Her compositions are often centered and stable, mostly in horizontal format, with a clear vanishing point that organizes the space.

The drawing remains precise, especially for faces and hands, which reinforces the documentary aspect of her works. She carefully prepared her large-scale backgrounds, with undercoats in medium tones that give warmth to the whole.

The artist also practiced pen and charcoal drawing in preparation, although few sketches are preserved today. She was influenced by the École d'Alger (established by Dinet, Fromentin and Girardet), but differed from it in her feminine outlook.

Her painting is sometimes compared to that of Lucien Simon or Étienne Dinet, but remains less narrative and more focused on human presence. His style evolves little over the decades, retaining a classic aesthetic constancy while absorbing a few modern accents in the touch.

The life of Marie Aimée Lucas Robiquet

Marie Aimée Lucas Robiquet was born into a middle-class family in Avranches, Normandy, in 1858. Little precise information is available about her early years, but she received extensive artistic training, probably in Paris.

She was taught by private artists or in women's studios, as was common for women of her time. She began exhibiting at the Salon de la Société des artistes français in the 1880s.

She quickly made a name for herself with her genre scenes and portraits, before turning to Orientalism, which was very much in vogue at the time. At a time when women artists were still not very visible, she succeeded in making a name for herself thanks to the quality of her workmanship and the originality of her vision.

She made several trips to Algeria, the Sahara and Tunisia, probably from the 1890s onwards. These sojourns enabled her to paint from the motif, which distinguishes her work from studio orientalism.

She immersed herself in local life, capturing scenes of markets, rest and daily life, which she rendered with a rare sense of observation. She exhibited regularly at the Salon until the 1920s, receiving several mentions and honors.

Her works were also shown abroad, notably in England and Belgium, at international exhibitions. Although she received little media attention, she was appreciated by colonial art lovers and private collectors.

She continued to paint well into old age, although her output declined after the First World War. She died at over 100, making her a figure straddling three generations of artists.

Her name then fell into oblivion, before being rediscovered thanks to recent interest in Orientalist women. Her work is now being revalued in exhibition catalogs and at auctions, where her paintings are sought after.

She is considered one of the rare women who approached the Orient with seriousness, respect and artistic commitment, alongside others such as Marguerite Delorme, escaping the dominant stereotypes. Her paintings can be found in several public and private collections, notably in France and North Africa.

Focus on Market scene in the Sahara, circa 1900 - 1910  

This title is used generically by the artist, who names several of his canvases in this way. The dimensions vary from version to version, but they are often large (approx. 80 x 120 cm).

The scene depicts a group of women and children in a Saharan market, at the foot of prisé buildings or palm trees. The scene is dominated by figures dressed in white, ochre or blue haïks, djellabas or burnous, depicted in attitudes of discussion or expectation.

There is no forced exoticism : the scene seems to be taken from life, from a close-up, almost documentary point of view. She uses sandy, luminous tones, dominated by golden ochres, reddish browns and chalky whites.

She also uses a backlighting effect, where zenithal light emphasizes the dryness of the air and the contours of the clothes. The sky is often rendered in vaporous washes, without excessive detail, to let the composition breathe.

The details of faces and hands are finely modeled, but without mannerism  the treatment remains sober. The ground is often rendered in cross-hatched or crossed strokes, blending dust, sand and discreet shadows.

Contrary to other Orientalist painters, Lucas Robiquet avoids harem scenes or colonial fantasies. Instead, she paints the everyday lives of women, often ignored by the male gaze. The work is distinguished by a benevolent neutrality, an attentive look at simple gestures : it's a testimony more than a fiction.

The absence of hierarchy in the composition (no central character is heroicized) gives an egalitarian and appeased character to the scene. This work perfectly illustrates the artist's commitment to a field vision, based on direct experience and not on stereotypes.

Contemporary collectors value these canvases for their technical quality, documentary authenticity and rare position as a woman artist in the Eastern field.

Recognizing Marie Aimée Lucas Robiquet's signature

Marie Aimée Lucas Robiquet's paintings are often signed at the bottom of the painting.

Knowing the value of a work

If you happen to own a work by or after Marie Aimée Lucas Robiquet, don't hesitate to request a free appraisal using our form on our website.

A member of our team of experts and certified auctioneers will contact you promptly to provide you with an estimate of the market value of your work, as well as ad hoc information about it.

If you are considering selling your work, you will also be accompanied by our specialists in order to benefit from alternatives for selling it at the best possible price, taking into account market inclinations.