Francis Newton Souza (1924 - 2002)

Acquired in Paris circa 1955

Thence by descent

The painting is framed behind glass and would benefit from re-framing and removal of the glass. There is craquelure present across the surface of the work and scattered losses throughout, particularly in the right arm of the figure and in the bottom corners of the painting. This painting would greatly benefit from consolidation and cleaning.
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Francis Newton Souza's  portrayal of women ranged from the sublime to the erotic to the grotesque. Souza used traditional and religious iconography within a modern context to depict his women, who often appeared naked rather than nude. However his portrayal of the Mother and Child were usually gentler in approach. This is demonstrated in this exquisite early work on paper that displays a tenderness and sensitivity not often seen in Souza's oeuvre. Unusually for the artist, he has chosen to depict the Mother fully clothed. Although the composition recalls early Renaissance portraits of the Madonna and Child, the stylisation of the figures with their strong black outlines and translucent colours are clearly derived from the art of Romanesque Spain. Souza acknowledged that 'his visit to the Catalonian Musuem in Barcelona was revelatory. The hieratic figures in Catalonian frescoes with their wide-eyed hypnotic gaze and ritualistic gestures are delineated with a sharp, precise line and enfolded in elaborately embroidered, richly coloured garments... Souza's paintings of 1953-54 show that he adopted not only that peculiar transfixed aspect of the medieval image but specific details such as the manner of delineating the facial features and modelling the limbs with a faint shadow on the inside of a distinct black outline.' (G. Kapur, Contemporary Indian Artists, Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 1978, p.19). We can see this in the current work where the artist has gone over the black gouache outline with graphite that not only emphasises the contours but gives it a medieval icon-like quality, where the colours glow from within their silvered borders.