A Peasant Girl in front of a Mirror

When Mánes returned in 1871 from a late study trip to Düsseldorf, he painted several genre pictures of children at play, at work or in school. The artist’s emotional involvement was always a significant component of his paintings, enhancing the overall impression. This painting with the dark interior of a village cottage, where a girl is putting on a necklace of shiny buttons in front of a mirror, is charming in its simplicity. The calm, idyllic scene, rendered with soft brushwork and subdued colours, emphasizes the overall melancholy mood. At the time Jan Neruda wrote in his review: „... this is the work of a master. Striking and gently poetic! Light and colours were simply blown onto canvas“.