Born in December 1877, Aline was Gauguin’s second child and only daughter. Of all the five children she was apparently most like their father, both in temperament and looks. The confident lines of this superb portrait belie the early date. Gauguin had participated in the official Impressionist exhibitions in Paris of 1881 and 1882, but he only gave up working as a stockbroker to devote himself fully to art in 1883. The outlines of the drawing have been pricked in places, which suggests this was a preliminary study for the oil portrait he painted of Aline in the same year. These portraits were executed before the family moved from Rouen to Denmark in July 1884. Gauguin left for Paris soon after, his marriage with Mette Gad fell apart and Aline would not see her father again until 1891.