* Jean-Baptiste Greuze Tournus 1725 - 1805 Paris

Louis Deglatigny (L.1768a);
Estrugamou Collection, Buenos Aires, sold New York, Sotheby's, January 14, 1992, lot 155a (unillustrated addendum to the catalogue)

Greuze uses a complicated interweaving of different chalks and wiping techniques to create this large, evocative head.  While some of the outlines are carried by the red chalk, large portions of the composition are created by stumping and perhaps some wetting of the chalk as well.  This pale gray functions as a neutral middle ground to which Greuze applies strong black chalk lines for accents, using the tone of the paper itself for highlights.  This is especially effective along the jawline or the knob of the chin, where it almost looks as if Greuze had erased the chalk to create these highlights. 

Greuze uses a similar technique in two studies for the Marriage Contract: Head of a Girl with Eyes Downcast and Head of an Old Man, both in private collections (see E. Munhall, Greuze the Draftsman, exhibition catalogue, New York, The Frick Collection, and Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2002, pp. 76-79, cat. nos. 17 and 18, respectively, reproduced pp. 77 and 79).  They are conceived on a similar scale and show a similar degree of finish.  The Head of an Old Man also has the same highlighting as the present work, most evident in the man's cheeks, where the white paper alternates with the gray stumping to create his myriad wrinkles.

The present Head of a Girl is a type that Greuze uses throughout his career.  With her pretty face, loosely knotted scarf and long unbound hair, she seems to epitomize the good daughter of his rural domestic scenes.