An early 20th century oil on canvas of lady sewing with her cat by Henriette Robert in gilt frame

Price was £4000 reduced to £1,200

As was so often the case with female artists, there is little information known about Henriette Robert, except that which can be gleaned from her paintings themselves. A member of the Union des Femmes Peintres et Sculpteurs, she is recorded as exhibiting at the Paris Salon des Artistes Français – of which she became a member from 1909. Her dates are not known, nor if Robert was her maiden or her married name. She was, however, listed as being a pupil at the Académie Julian.

The theme of this painting by Robert relates to the work of the author Emile Zola, (the wife of whom incidentally was a seamstress before their marriage), and whose books vividly portrayed the everyday life of all sections of French society towards the end of the 19th century. Zola wrote in precise detail of his characters’ surroundings to create his stories of social realism often documenting the hard manual labour of the working poor.

Robert, however, paints with detail the concentration of the young woman’s face and the adeptness of her delicate fingers – all contrasting with the less fully finished paintwork of both her dress, the large urn at her feet, as well the sketchy detail of the neighbouring house opposite. Even the sleepy cat on the window ledge is suggested more than fully observed. The artist has used little colour in her work, mainly just blues and greys, with strong patches of yellow to depict the brightness of the sunlight outside the dingy interior. It is very much a painting of everyday reality as it existed in the School of Realism, but also strongly influenced by impressionist associations with loose brushstrokes and a pastel softness feel about it.

Canvas measurements: 130 x 97cm