# Portrait de Mme. E. D.

- By: Paul Delaroche (French, 1797-1856)
- Date: 1829
- Medium: Black, white, and red chalks, with stumping and erasing on ivory wove paper, perimeter mounted to Japanese paper
- Classification: Drawing and Watercolor
- Dimensions: 24 × 18.8 cm (9 1/2 × 7 7/16 in.)
- Culture: France
- Credit line: Regenstein Endowment Fund
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/191212)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/8b492438-2782-d599-bf95-7b0fbe38c931/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Adult profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Delaroche sought to infuse his works with great emotional and moral expressiveness. Rendered with the soft-focus, “porthole” perspective of contemporary daguerreotype photography, this unidentified female portrait blends the romantic pose of a melancholy woman with the delicacy of an Ingres odalisque. It is unclear how the amorous couple at the door in the background relates to the contemplative woman.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0