Portrait of Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville
1746/47
Medium
Pastel on blue-gray laid paper, laid down on board
Dimensions
61.2 × 49.4 cm (24 1/8 × 19 1/2 in.)
Classification
pastel
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
155912
Art Historical Context
Step into the elegant world of 18th-century France with Maurice Quentin de La Tour's *Portrait of Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville* (1746/47), a masterful pastel capturing the composer and violinist at the height of his fame. De La Tour, a leading Rococo pastellist, specialized in luminous portraits of intellectuals and artists, elevating pastel from a preparatory medium to a celebrated fine art form. This work, housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints and Drawings Department, measures 61.2 × 49.4 cm and exemplifies his ability to convey personality through subtle expression and pose...