A humbly dressed woman warming her hands over a brazier, oil on canvas, 101.7 x 75 cm, framed

Provenance:
European private collection

We are grateful to Professor Francesco Frangi for identifying the artist of the present work on the basis of a digital photograph.

The present painting, which is previously unpublished, is a work by the genre painter known under the name of “Master of the Blue Jeans“, who was active in Northern Italy from around 1675 to 1700. This unidentified painter received his name because of the characteristic indigo blue fabric strongly reminiscent of modern blue jeans that recurs in the garments of many of his figures. This wear-resistant material come from Genoa and was used for clothes for the lower classes, and the English word ‘jeans’ is said to have developed from the city’s French name, ‘Gênes’.

The picture’s protagonist is rendered against a dark undefined backdrop. The figure directly faces the spectator, similar to the women in the paintings A Frugal Meal with Two Children (Galerie Canesso, Paris) and Woman Spinning with Two Children (ibid.). The detailed rendering of the worn clothes is characteristic of this painter’s style, as are the skilfully placed shades of grey in the light-coloured blouse and apron. The brazier might suggest that this is an Allegory of Winter, yet it seems more plausible that the artist sought to realistically convey the reality of the woman’s life.

The name ‘Maestro della Tela Jeans’ was first introduced in 2004 by Dr Gerlinde Gruber to describe a group of works by this highly individual artist. The painter displays a high degree of originality as to the choice of his themes and their realistic rendering. He observed his protagonists, who generally are of humble origins, with great sensitivity. Pursuing their daily routines, they seem to have nobility in their condition. In this respect, the artist may be regarded as an important forerunner of Giacomo Ceruti. A comparison of the present master’s works with paintings from the Veneto-Lombard region suggests that he sojourned in Lombardy, probably even in Milan. The painter’s oeuvre represents an important phase in the evolution of Lombard realism in painting (cf. G. Gruber, Un artista anonimo, il cosidetto Maestro della tela jeans, in: Maestro della Tela Jeans, exh. cat., Galerie Canesso, Paris 2010, pp. 10–14).

In his works, the artist seems to have been influenced by Michiel Sweerts, Eberhard Keilhau, and Evaristo Baschenis, while standing in the tradition of a realism that was begun by Velázquez and Georges de la Tour when under the impact of Caravaggism and was later continued by Todeschini and Giacomo Ceruti.