Sleeping Woman In A Turban, Early 18th Century

Sleeping Young Woman with a Turban –
French School, early 18th century, by a follower of Jean-Baptiste Santerre.
Oil on canvas, early 18th century, very good condition with old relining.
Dimensions with frame: 82 x 66 cm.

Oil on canvas depicting a sleeping young woman, bust-length, against a deep red background. Her inclined head, closed eyes, and hands lend the composition an intimate and meditative atmosphere. The sitter wears a draped brown turban adorned with a small brooch and a dark bodice with sheer sleeves revealing a low-cut white chemise. The face is rendered with soft, luminous modeling that stands out against the warm background.
Jean-Baptiste Santerre (1651–1717) was one of the most sensitive French painters of the late reign of Louis XIV and the early 18th century. He developed a highly personal style, blending the French classical tradition with a Caravaggesque chiaroscuro. He is particularly known for his female figures imbued with gentleness and sensuality, where inner expression takes precedence over outward appearance. His works, such as the famous Penitent Magdalene, enjoyed great success and were widely copied or reproduced by his circle and by 18th-century painters.
This representation falls within the tradition of figures of reverie or sleep, a fairly common theme in European painting of this period.
The subject of sleep, poised between bodily surrender and the expression of inner life, was recently highlighted by an exhibition at the Musée Marmottan Monet, reminding us how artists have explored this iconography throughout the centuries.