Like Le Père Bresteau, La Mère Morieu reflects Ribot’s power to confer dignity and psychological depth on humble sitters. The careful rendering of her countenance and clasped hands expresses endurance and quiet reflection without superficial sentimentality, while the concentrated light that falls across her features recalls the models of Spanish Baroque portraiture. Together, the two works form a pendant of sorts: one representing the rugged strength of a Breton fisherman, the other the touching austerity of an elderly woman.
Another painting also entitled La Mère Morieu was exhibited at the Salon of 1878, where it was met with enthusiastic reviews. Liésville described this frontal portrait of an old peasant woman as “magnificent”. Ribot painted several portraits bearing the title La Mère Morieu – sometimes spelled Marieu.
Our painting corresponds to the version listed in the 1890 Ribot catalogue of the exhibition held at the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery. On that occasion, two works titled La Mère Morieu were recorded, but only one was exhibited under no. 171 and described as follows: “La Mère Morieu is shown in bust-length, her hands crossed on her chest; a ray of light details every deformation of her emaciated neck, every feature of a face furrowed with countless wrinkles, characteristically topped with a high bonnet of white and blue cotton”. This description matches perfectly our painting, which, until now, had been considered lost. A similar portrait – without the hands crossed on the chest, though seemingly also depicting La Mère Morieu (fig. 1) – is held in the Musée de Unterlinden, in Colmar.