While it has been joked to death that the French painters of that period were obsessed with painting women in varying states of nudity, one must look less at that aspect and more at what the deeper meaning is behind the work independent of what is seen on the surface. Often, images had political or social messages behind them that someone who ignorantly just sees a "drunk naked girl" would easily miss.
In the case of this particular work by Greuze, there are numerous political and social statements potentially represented in the image. It's important to understand that images like the one above were not painted all in one sitting. The woman in the painting was likely brought in for two separate sittings; one to paint her face, and the second to paint her body. It's also possible the face and body belong to two different women. The setting of the painting was likely not added until later, including her dress, the flowers, and the broken pitcher itself.
So what does this painting mean? We don't have a statement from Greuze that lays it out cleanly, but what we have is a young lady clutching her dress to her body as if caught off guard. Her pitcher is broken, perhaps from a fall. It's easy to imagine her before the incident, carrying a spray of flowers that the water in the pitcher would have been used for. She slips and falls, shattering the pitcher and her flowers scattering. She scrambles to her feet, trying to collect herself and her flowers. Her hair is fixed in a way reflecting upper-class Victorian life, so perhaps she is a lady's maid, or even a daughter of an aristocrat. Regardless, her having fallen, her dress ruined and her knees likely skinned would demand an explanation from her father, or if a lady's maid, from her Lady. This shows the subservience of women in her time. However, perhaps the broken pitcher represents something deeper. Maybe it represents her hymen, her flowers her purity, and the disheveled dress the white veil of virginity she must keep intact in order to be married one day and not be ruined socially. In her time, her husband would expect to see blood on the sheets on their wedding night, or he could have her destroyed socially after immediately divorcing her for infidelity. Or, what if her broken pitcher and scattered flowers and ruined dress (and exposed breast) indicate she has fallen victim to sexual assault on her way home? In her social class, this would not matter to her future husband--if she had been robbed of her maidenhead, willingly or unwillingly, she was damaged goods, and no better than a disgrace to him. Perhaps the gargoyle behind her represents the dark future she will likely experience from this untimely tragedy, and the golden pillar the opulent aristocracy that will now forever be separated from her grasp by that shadow.
Even further, perhaps she is a young woman on her wedding night. The white gown she is wearing is perhaps her wedding dress. Charlotte Brontë, in footnotes from her book Vilette gave an explanation of part of the purpose of the white wedding dress. If her newly betrothed husband decided to claim her immediately, and swept her upward after the ceremony and carried her to the bedchamber to consummate the marriage, the red blood stain would contrast cleanly against the white gown. (Brontë, 2011) Maybe this is what has taken place, and she had gone to fetch flowers for their bed, but before she could scatter them across their sheets, her husband appeared from his dressing room, throws her down on the floor, takes what is his, and left her to pick up the mess. Her flower and vessel and breast are left broken and claimed by him, forever.
Is this a sad image in either instance? It's beyond sad; it's horrific. However, all of these are possibilities, and painters like Greuze were often (like me) non-traditional, artistic men. They used the naked female form to make a statement about society's backward and unbalanced sexual rights.
References:
Andersen, M. L. (2015). Thinking about women: Sociological perspectives on sex and gender. Hoboken, NJ: Pearson Education.
Brontë, C. (2011). Vilette. London: Arcturus.
Greuze, J. (1771). The broken vessel [Painting]. Grande Louvre, Paris, France.
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