Portrait of a Woman
baron Antoine Jean Gros French
Not on view
Gros was among the most successful of Jacques Louis David’s students. Under Napoleon, he would receive numerous commissions for large canvases of contemporary history, but during the unsettled period that followed the French Revolution, he spent several years in Italy, where portraits were his primary source of income. This pair of half-length portrait drawings—presumably of a husband and wife—offers few clues as to the sitters’ identities. Stripped of attributes that might indicate wealth and station, the subjects are set against blank backgrounds. Their frank and intimate countenances alone carry the force of expression.
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