A woman smiles as she sits stooped in front of a basin washing articles of clothing
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

Crouched on a low bench, a woman leans over a wash basin filled with water, in which she scrubs a white garment. She wears a light blue dress, a red and orange striped skirt, and an apron. She faces left, but looks toward us with a smile and a raised eyebrow. She has pale skin, blue eyes and rosy cheeks, and her blonde hair is tucked into her frilled white bonnet. Beside the basin is a pitcher on a stool, and cluttered around her are a basket, a sheet hung over a cabinet to dry, and other basins.

Gallery Text

This painting is the artist’s replica of one shown at the Salon of 1761 that received nearly universal acclaim. At first glance, it seems as if the dutiful laundress has been interrupted, and simply looks up from her task to meet the viewer’s gaze. Closer inspection suggests that she may not be a domestic absorbed by her daily activities: she is fairly well attired, and her hands and forearms look as if they have never washed laundry. The artist Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (1724–1780) identified the sitter, who appears in other works by Greuze, as a professional model. The fixed and unusual directness of her gaze, as well as the seductiveness of her smile — undoubtedly a reference to the contemporary belief that laundresses were promiscuous, unclean, and dishonest — led the renowned eighteenth-century critic Denis Diderot to write, “She’s a rascal I wouldn’t trust a bit.”

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1957.181
People
Jean-Baptiste Greuze, French (Tournus 1725 - 1805 Paris)
Title
The Laundress
Other Titles
Alternate Title: The Washerwoman
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
c. 1761
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/227567

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2220, European and American Art, 17th–19th century, Rococo and Neoclassicism in the Eighteenth Century
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
sight: 39.2 x 31 cm (15 7/16 x 12 3/16 in.)
frame: 62.2 x 52.1 x 7.6 cm (24 1/2 x 20 1/2 x 3 in.)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Charles E. Dunlap
Accession Year
1957
Object Number
1957.181
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture from the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, exh. cat., Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, 1967)
  • Edgar Peters Bowron, European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum: A Summary Catalogue including Paintings in the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990)
  • Richard Rand, Intimate Encounters: Love and Domesticity in Eighteenth-century France, exh. cat., Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ, 1997), no. 30, pp. 157-159, repr. in color
  • John Goodman, "Sex, gender, and genre", Apollo, Apollo Magazine Limited (London, July 1998), 148, 437, 52-53, pp. 52-53, ill. as Fig. 2 on p. 53
  • Colin B. Bailey, Jean-Baptiste Greuze: The Laundress, J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, CA, 2000), pp. 20-22, repr. in color as fig. 17
  • Alvin L. Clark, Jr., "To Delight the Eye": French Drawings and Paintings from the Collection of Charles E. Dunlap, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, 2005), repr. in color p. 5 as fig. 5; checklist no. 6, p. 11

Exhibition History

  • Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture from the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, 10/12/1967 - 12/03/1967
  • Masterpieces of European Art, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 06/22/1985 - 09/15/1985
  • "To Delight the Eye": French Drawings and Paintings from the Collection of Charles E. Dunlap, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 12/17/2005 - 03/12/2006
  • Ideal [Dis-] Placements: Old Masters at the Pulitzer, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, 10/24/2008 - 10/03/2009
  • HAA 271x The Origins of Modernity: The "New" 18th Century Rotation #2: Large Niche (S426A) Spring 2011, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 03/11/2011 - 06/18/2011
  • Ancient to Modern, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/31/2012 - 06/01/2013
  • 32Q: 2220 18th-19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 04/19/2017; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/13/2017 - 01/01/2050

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu