Portrait de Mme. E. D.
1829
Paul Delaroche French, 1797-1856
France
Delaroche sought to infuse his works with great emotional and moral expressiveness. Rendered with the soft-focus, “porthole” perspective of contemporary daguerreotype photography, this unidentified female portrait blends the romantic pose of a melancholy woman with the delicacy of an Ingres odalisque. It is unclear how the amorous couple at the door in the background relates to the contemplative woman.
Black, white, and red chalks, with stumping and erasing on ivory wove paper, perimeter mounted to Japanese paper