# Natalie at Ten

- By: Emile Auguste Carolus-Duran (French, born Lille, France 1838-died Paris, France 1917)
- Date: 1887
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Classification: Paintings
- Dimensions: 31 3/8 x 23 1/2 in. (79.7 x 59.7 cm)
- Credit line: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Laura Dreyfus Barney and Natalie Clifford Barney in memory of their mother, Alice Pike Barney
- Museum: [Smithsonian Institution](https://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=3788)
- Rights: [CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/web/50b5c6518436731f9f7cfe4798fc68d7.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This painting depicts Natalie Clifford Barney (1876-1972), the eldest daughter of Washington, D.C., socialite and painter Alice Pike Barney (1857-1931), who studied with the artist in Paris. Known for his realistic portraits, Carolus-Duran felt he could capture a sitter's character through his or her gestures and expression. Natalie's confident demeanor and inquisitive gaze, accentuated by her dark clothing, suggest her willful independence as a child. As an adult, Natalie hosted intellectual gatherings in her Paris home. She was one of the first openly lesbian modern writers and had a fifty-year relationship with artist Romaine Brooks.