Zoelie Durruthy's Symbolist Request For Forgiveness

ZÉLIE DURRUTY (France, 1869-1957), oil on canvas, signed in the lower margin. Dimensions: 116 x 128 cm; 134 x 149 cm (frame): 116 x 128 cm; 134 x 149 cm (frame) This is an intimate and captivating painting that subtly and masterfully addresses the theme of mourning. It suggests more than it shows, showing us a little girl looking at and holding a woman, probably her mother, by her clothes. The little girl's expression suggests affection, comfort, or perhaps supplication. There is physical contact between them, but above all, it is a silent dialogue. The background is neutral, that of a wall against which the mother leans, whose face expresses psychic pain, an idea reinforced by the handkerchief she holds in her right hand. Both are dressed in rigorous black. The atmosphere is sober and melancholic, but also beautiful. The lighting, coming from the left, creates a soft modeling on the faces and figures. Through the realistic depiction of the figures, the use of a sober palette, and the emphasis on human emotion, the painting is in a style close to nineteenth-century social realism, with French roots. Stylistically, it is halfway between late 19th-century French academicism and the more daring approaches of realists such as Courbet or Daumier. Zélie Durruthy was a French painter, born on April 22, 1869 in Paris and died on February 6, 1957 in Pontoise. She studied with Thirion and Humbert. She exhibited her works in various venues, including Versailles, Fontainebleau, Saint-Étienne, and in the exhibitions of Women Painters. Among his major works are "Portrait of a Young Girl" (1891) and "Still Alone" (1897). Traces on the back label address of the artist. It is one of the painter's masterpieces.