Two Studies of a Young Girl (possibly Louise-Reine Guffroy)(recto); A Study of a seated man with sketches of his hand, a girl, and a head (verso)

Adélaïde-Marie-Anne Castellas-Moitte trained with history painter Jean Jacques François Le Barbier (1738–1826), but after marrying the Neoclassical sculptor Jean Guillaume Moitte (1746–1810), devoted herself to running the household and to supporting various charitable and revolutionary causes.

During the two-year period in 1796-98 when her husband was in Italy on a government mission to study and collect works of art from newly conquered territories, Adélaïde took on a number of young girls as boarders who were taught drawing, sewing and pianoforte.

This sheet, originally a page in an account book, likely depicts Louise-Reine Guffroy, who came to live in the Moitte household at age five and was raised as a member of the family.

In these sketches of everyday domestic life, Adélaïde displays her skill in the graphic medium. The two vignettes of the seated girl are separated by a sweeping curve echoed in the curve of the table, and the areas of tonal shading are created by intricate webs of irregular hatching.