Study of a Woman’s Head
ca. 1780
Medium
Oil on wood
Dimensions
18 1/2 x 16 in. (47 x 40.6 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, 1871
Accession Number
71.91
Tags
Art Historical Context
Jean-Baptiste Greuze's *Study of a Woman’s* (ca. 1780) is a delicate oil sketch on wood panel, measuring 18½ x 16 inches, housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's European Paintings department. Painted at the height of Greuze's career in pre-Revolutionary France, this intimate profile captures a woman's serene face in three-quarter view, showcasing his mastery of subtle expression and emotional depth. Greuze, a leading figure in the sentimental genre painting movement, bridged Rococo elegance with emerging Neoclassicism, often using such studies as preparatory works for larger moralistic sce...
About the Artist
Jean-Baptiste Greuze · 1725–1805
Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725–1805) was a French painter whose moralistic genre scenes and expressive portraits made him one of the most celebrated and controversial artists of the eighteenth century. Born in Tournus, Burgundy, Greuze traveled to Paris in his youth and trained under Charles Grandon before gaining admission to the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, where he made a sensationa...