In the Country 1867

Alfred Stevens painted this portrait of a woman in a yellow dress in the latter half of the 19th century. He was part of a generation that was seeking to represent modern life, especially how it was lived by women of the bourgeois class. Stevens situates his figure in a verdant garden; the setting itself is coded as feminine, a space of cultivation and retreat. The woman’s costly dress and accessories speak to the prosperity of the period, but perhaps more intriguingly, they speak to the restricted roles for women during this era, who were largely excluded from public life. Her downcast eyes create a mood of wistful introspection, as she looks away from the viewer, perhaps towards a different future. This painting provides a glimpse into the emotional and material world of women in the 19th century, capturing their constrained, yet opulent existence.