Women in Prayer (1888)

Alphonse Legros: Women in Prayer

Alphonse Legros has a picture at the Tate Gallery, Women in Prayer, in which he subtly suggests how widely different an exercise prayer might be at different times and under different conditions. Here in this grey and subdued picture he shows how the inner character displays itself. In the faces of the women praying we see ecstasy, awe, anguish, doubt, weariness, formality. In any ordinary congregation during prayer these may be seen with equal vividness. [Illustrations from Art for Pulpit and Platform, James Burns. Boston: The Pilgrim Press, 1912, p. 98]