Quiet Faith

Quiet Faith Commentary by Anna Gannon Cite Share Show Bible Passage We know something about this work by Paul Cézanne thanks to his friend, the art critic and writer Joachim Gasquet, who had his own portrait painted about the same time, in 1896. He reports seeing a number of Cézanne’s works during a sitting, including this, apparently on the floor of the study, with ‘a pipe dripping on it’. Indeed, the National Gallery also reports how the lower left-hand corner is marked by splashed water or steam. Gasquet also tells us about the identity of the sitter: according to him, she was a former nun who had run away from her convent, and whom Cézanne had engaged as a servant. An Old Woman with a Rosary deploys a quiet palette of dark blues and browns in the cangiant (Italian: cangiante) rendition of light and shade on her dress, as well as a warm, ruddy colour for her flesh. The woman is sitting in a shady corner, perhaps in a pew. The composition is dominated by the triangle formed by the top of her head and her arms bent at the elbow. The woman’s face and hands stand out from the gloom as she leans forward, firmly clutching her rosary beads, which she passes through the fingers of her left hand. Her presence is solid and self-contained, her large, dark eyes unblinking, resisting our gaze and curiosity about her previous life. Her intense inner life of prayer, matured over many years, is all that matters and defines her now: her rosary is like her buckler (Psalm 91:4). Cézanne would have observed his sitter over an extended period, and got to know her. Her outward beauty may have faded, but this portrait is entirely sympathetic: it captures the woman’s dignity and quiet resilience. It conveys something of the depth of her spirituality, and devoted life of prayer, which, just as for the Prophet Anna, would have sustained her at times of crisis and shaped her character. This is a very tender, intimate portrayal of an elderly woman, capturing her enduring and profound faith.