Portrait of the Maistre Sisters, by Baron Antoine Jean Gros, 1796
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Portrait of the Maistre Sisters

Baron Antoine Jean Gros (French, 1771–1835)

1796

Medium
Oil on canvas
Classification
Painting
Dimensions
43.2 × 31.2 cm (17 × 12 1/4 in.); Framed: 57.2 × 44.5 cm (22 1/2 × 17 1/2 in.)
Culture
France
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago, Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Credit line
Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection
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

In this captivating double portrait, the fashionable Maistre sisters appear in complementary flowing muslin gowns and delicate gold jewelry. Ninette, in black, wraps her arm delicately yet protectively around her sister Suzette’s waist as both look out toward the viewer. French painter Antoine-Jean Gros created the visual sensation of a gentle breeze by animating the sitters’ gauze-like draperies and chestnut curls. Dense foliage, at times blending in with the curls, frames the pair and opens onto a gleaming landscape background.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0