Arcadópolis
Saudade (Longing)
What you see
A woman dressed in black stands by a window, filling almost the full height of the canvas. With one hand she presses her dark shawl to her mouth; with the other she holds a small paper, which she looks at with lowered eyes. On the left are a brick wall and the cool light of the window; on the right, a chest with a white cloth and a book on top.
The palette is dark and restrained, all blacks, browns and grays, and side light picks out her face, her hand and the paper. Seek out the straw hat hanging in the upper left corner, the shoes peeking out beneath the skirt, and the tiles on the floor.
About José Ferraz de Almeida Júnior
José Ferraz de Almeida Júnior was born in 1850 in Itu, in inland São Paulo, and studied at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro and then, with a scholarship from Emperor Pedro II, at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, from 1876 to 1882. Back in Brazil he devoted himself more and more to the “caipira”, the country people of São Paulo, whom he painted in simple scenes of work and rest under the strong inland light. His “Caipira Cutting Tobacco” had so many imitators that Monteiro Lobato joked that future historians would think Brazilians of the time did nothing but cut tobacco. He died in Piracicaba in 1899.
More by José Ferraz de Almeida Júnior
The Arcadópolis Museum has 443 public-domain works in 40 rooms, free to explore in 3D in your browser.