Widow (with green room) Pavel Fedotov (1815-1852)

Description of Pavel Fedotov’s painting The Widowmaker

The painting "Widowmaiden" painted by Fedotov has a very interesting history of writing, a different plot from other works of the master and as many as 4 surviving versions!

The idea for writing the picture came to the master in Moscow, when he was tormented by the fate of his unhappy sister Lyubinka. The fact is that the girl, who during the life of her husband was not happy at all, and, after his death, was left pregnant alone with all the debts and poverty.

Not aiming to create complex and loaded compositions, in all the details give an idea of all the troubles that have fallen on the fragile shoulders of the girl, but wishing to express exactly all the sorrow and grief that can be seen in the pose and face of the unhappy Luba. All that had already happened and was just waiting for the girl, you can guess only by half a hint.

In the barely lit room, brooding and looking at the floor with sad, weeping eyes, in a shy pose stands a young girl, though, rather, even a woman. She is wearing a black mourning dress, through which we can clearly see that she is in a position.

But what in the painting gives us a clue as to what has happened and what awaits the widow? A lot of seemingly inconspicuous details. The portrait of her deceased husband, an officer in uniform, we see next to the icon on the dresser. A candle, forgotten since the night, casts a dim light on the basket in which all the poor girl’s belongings are gathered. On many other pieces of furniture, as on the door, wax marks are visible, letting us know that they no longer belong to her. The more we look at the silver compiled on the floor, the sealed objects, and the woman’s face, the more we sense the poverty of her situation: when her husband died, he left his wife multiple debts, which the girl had no way to pay. And so, she leaves this small but cozy apartment, losing most of her possessions. And in this frighteningly cold future, she needs to take care of the child who is about to be born...

For a long time Fedotov searched for a girl with a face that expressed deep sorrow and grief, but in his opinion he never found what he was looking for. And although he was repeatedly congratulated on the magnificent painting, he was never completely satisfied with it. Nevertheless, thanks to the artist’s constant search for that ideal, we have as many as four paintings, each of which is mesmerizing and makes us sympathize with the girl in it with all our hearts.