Love’s Melancholy (portrait)

A young woman stands by herself in an open landscape, her chin dipped low and her gaze turned inward. In one hand she loosely holds a small sprig of roses, though she hardly seems aware of them. Painted in 1866 by Constant Mayer, a French artist who built much of his career in America, this work goes by the fitting title "Love's Melancholy." Her sorrowful eyes and the fading flowers tell us plainly that this is a picture about heartache.

Mayer had a taste for tender, emotional subjects, which suited the mood of the nineteenth century perfectly. Audiences back then adored paintings that pulled at the feelings, and this one does exactly that. Details in the background add to the story. Off in the distant valley, a little church glows under the pale light of morning or evening, maybe pointing to a wedding that never came or a romance now gone. Her simple gray dress and white scarf are quiet and plain, so nothing distracts from the emotion written across her face.

Even now, the painting is easy to relate to. Nearly everyone knows that dull ache of longing or loss, and Mayer shows it without any fuss or theatrics. The drooping roses, so often a token of love, sag right along with her, saying more than any words could.