Hope  1872

In the wake of the catastrophic Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, the artist painted this picture of a young woman seated in a devastated landscape holding an oak twig as a symbol of hope for the nation's recovery from war and deprivation. This painting was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1872. A smaller variant, showing the subject nude, is at the Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Puvi...