Odilon Redon: Simone Fayet en communiante (1908)

“…Simone Fayet, Gustave Fayet’s daughter, is represented taking her first communion in front of a backdrop of stained glass. Like the portrait which Redon had painted of her two years earlier, Simone Fayet avec sa poupe, the young girl’s expression is serious and thoughtful...The composition of the work is unusual. Simone, seen in profile, occupies only the first third of the composition, the rest being devoted to scenery...the stained glass occupying half of the work is directly inspired by the stained glass at Chartres, for it was during a visit to the cathedral there with Fayet in June 1908 that the artist was commissioned to paint the portrait of his…