The Truth (Lefebvre)

The Truth is an 1870 oil-on-canvas painting by the French painter Jules Joseph Lefebvre. It is in the Musée d'Orsay, in Paris, since 1982.
The Truth was exhibited during the 1870 Salon and was bought by the French state in 1871.
The painting depicts a naked woman standing, facing the viewers. Her right hand extends above her head, holding a golden mirror, her right leg is bent, shifting weight onto her left hip and making it look like she's walking towards the viewers, beside it there's a bucket, and her left hand is holding a mirror, suggesting that she's in a well.
The model for the painting was the well-known French actress . Although her career was primarily in theater, Croizette also modeled for several artists, most notably including her brother-in-law Carolus-Duran's Equestrian Portrait of Mademoiselle Croizette.
The painting is contemporary with the first small scale model made by Lefebvre's fellow-Frenchman Frédéric Bartholdi for what became the Statue of Liberty, striking a similar pose, though fully clothed.