JEAN-BAPTISTE GREUZE | PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG WOMAN, BUST LENGTH

Sale: Villanfray & Associés, Paris, November 29, 2017, lot 192

Acquired at the above sale

Jean-Baptiste Greuze was unmatched in his ability to capture emotion in a realistic and empathetic sense. He often painted expressive studies of heads, or têtes d'expression, as a method of exploring a range of emotions, usually to use in his larger compositions, or sometimes as a study kept for himself. The present work shows an elegant young woman, eyes directly at the viewer, with a soft, pensive expression. There is a subtle hint of melancholy that pushes the painting beyond a typical, straightforward portrait. The work exhibits Greuze's trademark loose brushwork, which appears as thick impasto in some areas, such as the ruffle along her neckline, combined with some more subtle, thinly-painted passages to create an ethereal and touching effect.