Evening Prayer

A young woman, wearing a white blouse with her shoulders bared and a long black skirt, kneels in prayer beside her bed. The furnishings of this contemporary bourgeois interior include a colorful oriental rug, a turned mahogany candlestand carrying a brass double candleholder, and an upholstered Louis XV-style armchair. Partially concealed by the pink silk bed curtains is a framed crucifix.

Single-figured boudoir scenes, such as this work, were the mainstay of Plassan's oeuvre. A very similar composition, with the same figure and candlestand, entitled "La Prière," was sold at Sotheby's in London, July 21, 1976, no. 45, dated 1862.