The Maid
François Bonvin
1870–1880
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 44.5 × 30.8 cm (17 1/2 × 12 1/8 in.); Framed: 76.9 × 63.5 × 12.7 cm (30 1/4 × 25 × 5 in.)
- Genre
- oil on canvas
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Styles
Tags
oil paintings (visual works)painting19th centurypaintcanvaswomancupoil on canvasfrenchtableclothfigureTableoil paint (paint)painting (image making)painting techniquesbottlesutensilchairshouseholdwomeninterioroil paintingfoodeuropean paintingglasses
About
This maid pours blood from a flayed ox’s head as she prepares to make a delicacy known as headcheese. Such paintings of everyday life were popular in late 19th-century France; as the nation experienced rapid industrialization and urbanization, audiences appreciated imagery that romanticized traditional rural life, with its perceived simplicity and virtuousness. François Bonvin regularly executed genre scenes reminiscent of works by 18th-century French artist Jean Siméon Chardin, who also celebrated the quiet dignity of domestic labor.
