"A young Japanese woman with a fan",signed F.LAFON, dated 1875

Oil on canvas representing a young Japanese girl holding a fan and an umbrella, signed lower left F.LAFON, dated 1875, and titled "Leda" (dedication or name of the model?).
François LAFON ( Paris 1846-Neuilly/seine 1913), was a pupil of Cabanel, and made his debut at the Paris Salon in 1875 (date of our painting), where he exhibited genre scenes, historical scenes, religious compositions and portraits.
Member of the National Society of Fine Arts from 1890, he received numerous state commissions.
His works are kept in several museums, including those of Rouen, Périgueux, Saint Brieuc, Chateauroux, Chambery, Béziers, etc..., and in Bethlehem, and Glenside in Pennsylvania.
In the last quarter of the 19th century. the ukiyo-e becomes a new source of inspiration for European painters. It is in a series of articles published in 1872 in the magazine "renaissance artistique et littéraire" that a name is given to this revolution: Japonism.
"Japan was the equivalent of the discovery of a new aesthetic continent," Raynaud Isey wrote.
Bénézit,1999,T.8,p.290; Palissy base.
Original canvas, reinforcement at the back lower right, restoration almost invisible.
No frame, but several possibilities
82x61