Marie-antoinette Quéroy (1881-1977) Orientalist Portrait Painting Algeria Dinet

This work depicts an orientalist scene of everyday life: a young woman carrying her child in a wide shawl tied across her back. The female figure, treated with restraint and dignity, looks directly at the viewer with a calm and solemn expression, while the child, partially concealed, clings to her shoulder. The deliberately pared-down background features a patinated ochre wall and a white and blue architectural element, characteristic of local architecture.

The palette, dominated by warm tones—ochres, earth colors, and browns—is balanced by touches of blue. The supple, slightly impastoed brushwork allows the pictorial material to remain visible. The overall composition conveys an atmosphere of quiet intimacy and humanism, far removed from any theatrical exoticism.

Both style and subject clearly relate this work to the intimate orientalist approach of Étienne Dinet, for whom Marie-Antoinette Quéroy painted the house in Bou Saâda. This stylistic and contextual proximity suggests direct familiarity with Bou Saâda and Dinet’s circle, as well as a careful and respectful observation of local life.

A rare work by an artist who remains little documented, this painting constitutes a valuable testimony to the presence of women artists in early 20th-century Algerian Orientalism and belongs to the humanist and naturalist current initiated by Dinet.

Oil on canvas, signed lower right “M. A. Queroy.”

The work is in very good condition (minor retouching in the lower area). It may originally have been of a larger format.
Sold unframed.
Dimensions: 37 × 26 cm.

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Photographs taken in natural light.
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