Profile portrait of a woman

1781
Not on view
Bernard was born in Luneville, in the duchy of Lorraine, in what is today eastern France. He became writing master to King Stanislas, the exiled king of Poland, who had established a court in Luneville. After Stanislas’s death in 1766, Bernard moved to Paris where he developed a style of portraiture that set the profiles of sitters in elaborate frames that merged calligraphic flourishes with naturalistic observation. In this portrait of an unidentified woman, the sitter is nearly eclipsed by the multiple ornamental frames.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Profile portrait of a woman
  • Artist: Joseph Jean Bernard (French, 1740–1809)
  • Date: 1781
  • Medium: Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, touches of blue wash, over black chalk
  • Dimensions: Height: 20 1/2 in. (52 cm)
    Width: 14 3/4 in. (37.4 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 2019
  • Object Number: 2019.282.17
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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