Portrait of Constance Pipelet
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
130 × 99.1 cm (51 1/4 × 39 in.)
Classification
oil on canvas
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
31233
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Painted in the aftermath of the French Revolution, Désoria’s Portrait of Constance Pipelet typifies the Neoclassical style of portraiture practiced by Jacques-Louis David and his circle. The figure, placed parallel to the picture plane and silhouetted against the bright blue of the sky, evokes antique relief sculpture. Her white cotton dress was the fashionable attire of middle- and upper-class women in the 1790s, its antique associations reflecting Neoclassical ideals and its simplicity echoing th...