Théodore Jacques RALLI (1852-1909) Lot n° 9

Fille assise sur un mur de pierre, filant la laine signe ‘Ralli' (en bas à gauche) huile sur toile 55 x 46.5cm (21 5/8 x 18 5/16in). signed (lower left) oil on canvas £42000-59000 Provenance Private collection, Canada. Private collection, Athens. This delightful vignette of peaceful rural life evokes a noble sentiment of tenderness and relaxed meditation. Bathed in diffuse light and set against a shallow backdrop of ascetic simplicity, the graceful young sitter strongly contrasts with the dark interior, suggested rather than shown through the opening on the wall. Holding her spindle and distaff, and with downcast eyes, she is completely absorbed in spinning the fibres, conveying to the viewer the era's moral values of modesty and virtue. The dean of Greek orientalist painters, Ralli travelled extensively across Greece, faithfully recording the countenance and traditional costumes of peasant women in secular or religious settings. In his virtuoso technique, deft use of subtle gradations and loving attention to detail, he follows on the footsteps of his great teacher Jean-Léon Gérôme. Here, relying on balanced composition, harmony of colour values, firm modelling and a personal spirit of solemn grandeur and noble elegance, he fuses this rural scene into a seductive work of art.