Jean-Honore Greuze, The Broken Mirror and The Inconsolable Widow
I like putting these two images as a duo. I feel as if Greuze is giving direction as to the right and wrong sense of female grief. In comparison we have two women in white accompanied by their faithful dogs. In the first we know that the lady's grief stems from lost virtue due to the spilt eggs and broken mirror. Her lapdog abrasively circles the mirror on the floor. The second shows a woman distraught over the loss of her husband. She is disheveled, just like the first lady. Unlike the first lady she appears, in her grief to have barely pulled herself together to dress herself, whereas the other is disheveled from, well, her bad choices for the evening. The widow's dog-companion sleeps peacefully during his mistresses grief. His peace confirms the fidelities of his mistress to her late husband.
That is really interesting how the props really tell the story, instead of the women themselves
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