French school; 19th century.

French school; 19th century.
"Violetera".
Oil on canvas.
Presents restorations.
Measurements: 73 x 58,5 cm; 107 x 91 cm (frame).
This portrait of great size, unsigned, represents a young saleswoman of violets. A young violet seller occupies the center of the composition, represented with delicacy and a certain melancholy. Dressed in modest, but clean and carefully arranged clothes, she holds a small dish of fresh violets, while shyly extending a bouquet towards the viewer. The dim, almost pearly light envelops the scene with an intimate, nostalgic atmosphere, underscored by a palette of soft, powdery tones.
The violetera, beyond her real profession as a peddler of flowers, becomes in this work a popular archetype of the French imaginary of the 19th century. She was a recurring figure in literature, theater, painting and later in popular song, a symbol of humble grace, industrious innocence and a certain melancholic charm. In an urban context marked by industrialization and the growth of the modern city, the violetera embodied a modest femininity.
Napoleon Bonaparte had a passion for this flower, which became the symbol of the Bonapartists during the Hundred Days. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, the south of Paris had almost two hundred hectares dedicated to the cultivation of violets.