Portrait of an Older Woman

A committed realist, Ribot found his subjects near at hand, often using his family members as models. It is unclear if this older woman who sat for the artist with closed eyes is a model or a relative. In contrast to his ink drawings and their fluid manner, the artist has used black chalk to more carefully delineate the sitter's features, adding black ink for the kerchief around her head and casting her face into relief. His uncompromising realism, informed by a passion for Spanish, Italian, and Dutch baroque painting, yielded a style that both pays homage to past masters and yet is utterly modern.