Portrait of the Duchesse de Berry
Medium
Lithograph in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 17.2 × 9.5 cm (6 13/16 × 3 3/4 in.); Sheet: 26.4 × 17.5 cm (10 7/16 × 6 15/16 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
39678
Art Historical Context
This lithograph captures the Duchesse de Berry, a key figure in the French Bourbon Restoration, rendered by Baron François Pascal Simon Gérard around 1815–16. Gérard, celebrated for his elegant neoclassical portraits of European royalty and Napoleon’s court, here translates his refined style into print form. The intimate scale and delicate linework emphasize the sitter’s poised dignity at a moment when France was reestablishing its monarchy after the Napoleonic Wars. Created on ivory laid paper using the newly invented medium of lithography, the work exemplifies the technique’s early artistic...