# Germaine at her Toilette

- By: Jean-François Rafaëlli (French, 1850-1924)
- Date: 1886
- Medium: Pastel on canvas
- Classification: Drawing and Watercolor
- Dimensions: Sight: 108.3 × 59.7 cm (42 11/16 × 23 9/16 in.)
- Culture: France
- Credit line: Bequest of Janis H. Palmer
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/104929)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/web/eb958854b71680cd69110dd2710dbce1.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This pastel portrait of Jean-François Raffaëlli’s eight-year- old daughter Germaine captures her youthful awkwardness as she prepares to wash. She stands still in rumpled stockings and a wrinkled petticoat, distracted for a moment before beginning her routine. Her plain attire and blank expression contrast with the elegance of her surroundings, which include a finely decorated china toilette set and a gauzy, lace-edged red cloth.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0