Theodoros Ralli

Estimate

40,000 - 60,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

Theodoros Ralli
Young girl in a Greek church
signed lower left
oil on canvas
38 by 31.5cm., 15 by 12½in.

Provenance

Sale: Stavros Mihalarias Art, Athens, 19 March 1990, lot 47
Private Collection, Athens

Literature

Maria Katsanaki, Le peintre Théodore Ralli (1852-1909) et son oeuvre, Université Paris I - Panthéon - Sorbonne 2007, no. 253, catalogued; no. 169, illustrated (as La Réfugiée)

Catalogue Note

Painted before 1901.

Although Ralli travelled extensively throughout North Africa and the Middle East, he often returned to nostalgic subjects showing figures and customs of his homeland. In the present work, a young girl looks out at the beholder from the dimly lit interior of an orthodox church. Many of Ralli's uniquely Greek genre scenes feature a young woman in traditional embroidered garments. Here, the pious young girl is shown within an age-old religious setting, in what may be seen as a comment on the continuity and timelessness of the church. With its rich but subdued colour palette, the scene evokes the silent, contemplative atmosphere of a Greek church, while the hazy brushwork in the background suggests the mystic dimensions of the church and its liturgy.