Description:
dark image of a woman with plain long dark brown dress in a landscape balancing a milk pail on her head, seated bull to her left and one behind rubbing against a gnarled tree; woman; landscape; outdoor
Label Text:
Albert Pinkham Ryder was an idiosyncratic and reclusive painter who created small enamel-like paintings with romantic themes. "Perrette" is one of several works from the late 1890s in which Ryder treated the subject of a poor, guileless young woman. In this case, he drew inspiration from a fable by Jean de La Fontaine that explores the daydreams of a young farm wife. While carrying her milk to market, she fantasizes about the profit she will make. With her head in the clouds, she trips, spilling her milk, dashing the possibility of realizing her dream.
Typical of his work, Ryder chose to represent not the outcome of the story here, but the moment at which the young woman becomes completely lost in her dreamy state. The seamed, almost corrugated paint surface is caused by the artist's use of bitumen, which, over time, alters the original appearance of the paint.
Tags:
women; landscapes Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1893.1 |
