Theodoros Ralli

In this beautifully observed masterpiece, Ralli depicts a young girl in rustic dress who, having been tasked with watching over the church on Holy Friday, has fallen asleep at her post. The sun is rising, light is entering the church and beginning to illuminate the ancient murals, and the candles are still burning from the night before. Ralli often depicted Holy customs in Greece, the subject allowing him to deploy his artistic talents - from the still life in the upper left, to the delicately observed play of candlelight in the shadows, to the vibrant flowers strewn across the ground - in a uniquely Greek setting. The scene, as the original Salon plaque on the frame relates, and as in many of Ralli's church scenes, takes place in Megara, Attica. Painted in France for the Paris Salon, the work is an homage to timeless Greek village life.

The choice of 'Church genre' was a popular one with artists at the time, as it bridged the gap between the established preference for academic history and religious painting by the artistic establishment; the new currents in art, which upheld that a painting should reflect the spirit of its age; and the demands for  decorative pictures of the buying public. By depicting a contemporary scene within a composition that focused on traditional costumes and religious observances, Ralli imbued Holy Friday with a sense of timelessness and peacefulness, which enhanced its appeal to a public in the midst of coping with the socio-economic changes that rapid industrialisation and urbanisation had brought about.