Title: Portrait of a Young Girl
Date: c.1863
Medium: Oil on canvas
Signed: lower right: t Ribot
Credit Line: Presented, Sir Alfred Chester Beatty, 1951
Object Number: NGI.1217
DescriptionThéodule Ribot was interested in chiaroscuro effects and often painted by lamplight. He admired the dark toned paintings of seventeenth-century Dutch and Spanish artists.
The young girl depicted in this work is believed to be the artist’s daughter. While her facial features are distinct, her body seems to be absorbed into the grey-beige background. The subdued colouring and the child's placid expression convey a contemplative mood.
Ribot may have had James McNeil Whistler’s 'The White Girl' (1861–62; National Gallery of Art, Washington), exhibited in Paris in 1863, in mind when he painted this picture.
Exhibition HistoryFrench 19th and 20th Century Paintings from the National Gallery of Ireland: Corot to Picasso, Daimaru Museum, Tokyo, 5 September - 17 September 1996; Daimaru Museum, Kyoto, 10 October - 22 October 1996; Kawaguchiko Museum of Art, Yamanashi, 26 October - 2 December 1996; Daimaru Museum, Umeda,Osaka, 22 January - 9 February 1997; Aomori Municpal Gallery of Art, Aomori, 2 April - 20 April 1997
Shades of Grey: Painting without Colour, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 22 June - 29 September 2013
Label TextThe Realist painter Théodule Ribot was very interested in chiaroscuro effects and he often painted by lamplight. This portrait study depicts his daughter. Although her facial features are distinct, her body is largely absorbed into the grey-beige background. The painting’s subdued colouring and the child's placid expression convey a contemplative mood. Ribot may have had James McNeil Whistler’s The White Girl (1861-62; NGA, Washington) in mind, when he produced this picture.