Lepoittevin was the son of a curator in the state furniture repository at Versailles. He was a student of Louis Hersent and the painter Auguste-Xavier Leprince, exhibiting frequently in the Salon in Paris from 1831.
In this painting a farm girl is depicted dressing in a bedroom which is part of a building also housing farm animals. The cow in the background peers over the partition as the girl laces up her clothing. The brightly coloured fabric of her skirt warms the dark barn.
Recent conservation work has revealed the shadow of a cockerel, which the artist later painted out, in the foreground. The cockerel, a symbol of lust, suggests that Lepoittevin may have originally intended a voyeuristic twist to the scene.
- TitleFarm girl at the her toilet (lacing her corset)
- Object numberB.M.313
- Collection
- Creator
- Production placeFrance
- Production period19th century
- School/styleFrench
- Object name
- Material
- Technique
- Dimensions
- Length: 44.4 cm
- Width: 40.6 cm
- Length: Frame 62 cm
- Width: Frame 59 cm