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Portrait of an Artist
French School (French, active 18th century)
c. 1735
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- 101.7 × 82 cm (40 × 32 5/16 in.); Framed: 126.3 × 106.9 × 10.2 cm (49 11/16 × 42 1/16 × 4 in.)
- Culture
- France
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Credit line
- Purchased with funds provided by Mrs. Harold T. Martin in honor of Patrice Marandel
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
Professional women artists were rare in the 1730s. The Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, which controlled artistic education and competitive art exhibitions called salons, was closed to women. Instead, artistic careers were traditionally limited to those born into families of artists, who could be trained by a male relative. The subject of this portrait probably belonged to such a clan. The presentation here emphasizes the sitter’s luxurious attire, including a swansdown scarf and a damask morning gown, as well as her vocation: she sits confidently before her easel, her palette in hand.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
