Guillaume Ronmy (1786-1854) Young Italian Woman Drying Her Child's Diapers Rouen

Guillaume RONMY
(Rouen, 1786 – Paris, 1854)
Young Italian woman drying her child's diapers
Oil on panel
H. 16 cm; L. 13.5 cm
Signed lower left
Traces of inscriptions on the back : Sale Ron... and a number ..2?

Described as a history painter, Ronmy is mainly known as a landscape painter. He is a student of Vien and especially of Taunay, and like the latter, he will work as a figurist for colleagues, such as Lazare Bruandet. The rather warm and vaporous atmosphere of his "Italian" paintings brings him closer to certain works of Demarne, himself influenced by the Italianate Dutch of the end of the 17th century such as Berchem or Jan Both. Ronmy regularly participated in the Salon from 1810, obtaining official awards and purchases from prestigious collectors such as the Duke of Orléans and the Duchess of Berry.

Our small panel is both a domestic interior scene and a landscape, using a process familiar to the artist, the opening to the outside through an arcade. It could be the painting titled Young Mother, lot No. 67 from the Veuve Gabrié sale (Les Mureaux, April 14-18, 1901, Maître Marquis), and indicated as coming from the artist's sale in 1860.