By 1900, Dagnan-Bouveret had shifted from his naturalist subjects of the late nineteenth century to religious scenes inspired by Renaissance and Pre-Raphaelite artists, commissioned portraits, and works revealing a symbolist influence, such as Sur les cimes (On the Summit). In this painting, a mysterious maiden sits atop a mountain, dressed in a white robe and veil which swirl around her body like snow, her hair tinged with white frost, and her skin nearly as pale as the ice crystals set in a stone cistern beside her; behind her, a far-distant valley bordered by cold blue mountains and a glacial lake suggest a remote, frozen locale.

Without identifiable allegorical or mythological sources, the viewer is left to po...