There is something of Masaccio or Piero della Francesca in this large, simple figure of a woman. According to one of her descendants, the model was a servant, who would have posed for the sittings in Paris, not at the Jas de Bouffan. This may be the reason for the stiff, rather uneasy attitude of the sitter. The resemblance in the pose to some of the portraits of Hortense Fiquet, who has sometimes been identified as the woman with the coffee pot, may suggest that C┼╜zanne deliberately wanted to keep an emotional distance from his model. The expression on her face is enigmatic. Lionello Venturi noted, quite accurately, that ΓÇÿshe is standing there as firm as a towerΓÇÖ. The thick, dark hands are accustomed to domestic work, and their simplified shape makes them look like barely trimmed blocks of wood or lumps of inanimate flesh. The modelΓÇÖs body is completely hidden under the full but severe blue dress, the geometric folds of which are reminiscent of the sharp reliefs of Mont Sainte-Victoire. This lifelessness is compensated for by the vibrant rendering of the composition and the light, which modifies the colours. Here and there, spots of white light catch the folds of the bodice. The dress
