Portrait of a Lady, seated
Medium
Red chalk
Dimensions
8 1/8 x 5 7/8 in. (20.6 x 14.9 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1920
Accession Number
20.54
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate *Portrait of a Lady, Seated*, rendered in red chalk by the anonymous French artist of the 18th century—possibly attributable to Jean-Baptiste Joseph P—captures the refined elegance of Rococo portraiture. Measuring just 8 1/8 x 5 7/8 inches, the intimate drawing depicts a woman in profile, seated gracefully, her posture and attire evoking the poise of French aristocratic life. Acquired through the Rogers Fund in 1920, it in the Metropolitan Museum of's Department of Drawings and Prints. Red chalk, or sanguine, was a favored medium in 18th-century France for its warm, flesh-like t...
About the Artist
Anonymous, French, 18th century|Jean-Baptiste Joseph Pater · 1700–1800
The artist known as Anonymous, French, 18th century, represents a collective of unidentified talents active roughly between 1700 and 1800, a period of profound artistic evolution in France from the opulent Rococo to the austere dawn of Neoclassicism and Revolutionary fervor. Little is documented about their personal training or mentors, as their anonymity obscures individual biographies, though th...