Woman with Pigeons
Gustave Courbet
GUSTAVE COURBET, c.1865. OIL ON CANVAS.
The subject of this unusual portrait seems either uninterested or unaware that she is being painted. None of the typical signs of portraiture are present – no polished pose, three-quarter turn, or watchful eyes rendered in oil paint. Instead, the woman is turned away from the viewer, the folds of her neck suggesting that she is in motion, her body occupied with the two pigeons she holds. Courbet was a virtuoso who had spent the start of his career painting scenes of the French peasant class before moving in his maturity to works that focused on animals. His uncanny ability for naturalistic depiction and his attempt to capture people in candid moments, despite the lengthy period of posing they would have to perform, set him apart from his French contemporaries. Here, the delicate brushstrokes of the birds and their owner invite comparison between the two, the flows of her curled hair turn like the feathers in motion, the glimmer of her earing matches the eyes of the pigeons and both she and the pigeon she holds closest to her chest year a ribbon that hangs loosely atop their heads.