Menu Close

DIALV5-pizzarro-ruth-AG

The two small woodcuts appear in portrait orientation, centered vertically on the page, each within a double-lined border. The rectangular images, printed in black ink, depict scenes from the Biblical story of Ruth and Naomi. The top image shows three female figures, in Breton dress, standing in front of a building. In the centre foreground, dark-haired Ruth, wearing a floral dress, embraces the older-looking Naomi, who wears an apron and clogs. Just behind them, to their left, Orpah holds her hands to her face, appearing to weep. She too, wears clogs, as well as a scarf over her hair and shoulders. The house behind them has casement windows and a thatched roof. On the right, ivy and a flowering plant emerge out of a crack in the wall to cover the house. On the extreme right, an open doorway reveals the house’s darkened interior. The second image is an extreme close-up of Ruth gleaning fallen wheat in a field. She bends forward, facing left, in the centre foreground. Her face, shadowed by a bonnet with dark ribbons crossed over the crown, is in profile. She wears clogs and a floral blouse as she bends, right arm outstretched, to pick up stray wheat strands. With her left hand, she holds a bundle of wheat in her apron. Behind her, in the middleground, two women in similar dress stand in the field. More fields stretch into the distance, punctuated by three trees on the left. In the distance, clouds roll in from the left. Both images have a stylized monogram of the artist’s initials in the bottom right corner; a capital “L” and capital “P,” rotated 90 degrees to the left, are surrounded by a circle.