Portrait of Madame Giacomelli
1817–20
Medium
Lithograph in black on buff laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 17.9 × 11 cm (7 1/16 × 4 3/8 in.); Sheet: 22.6 × 17.1 cm (8 15/16 × 6 3/4 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
39639
Art Historical Context
Step into the refined world of early 19th-century portrait with *Portrait of Madame Giacom*, a delicate lithograph created by Dominique-Vivant Den between 1817 and1820. Denon, a multifaceted French artist, diplomat, director of the Louvre under Napoleon, masterfully captured the sitter's poised elegance on buff laid paper. Measuring just 17.9 × 11 cm, this intimate image invites close contemplation, revealing the subtle textures and soft modeling achieved through bold black ink. Lithography, a revolutionary printing technique invented just two decades earlier, allowed Denon to draw directly o...
About the Artist
Dominique-Vivant Denon · 1747–1825
Dominique-Vivant Denon (1747–1825) was a French artist, diplomat, archaeologist, and museum administrator who became the first director of the Musée du Louvre — a role that earned him the title of "the father of all museums." Born Baron Vivant de Non in Chalon-sur-Saône, Burgundy, he was educated for a career in diplomacy and served under Louis XV and Louis XVI as a gentleman of the court and as a...