Portrait of Infante Isabelle de Bourbon-Parme (1741–1763)

Artistafter Jean-Marc Nattier (French, 1685 – 1766)

Datec.1855

CultureFrench

MediumPastel on paper

ClassificationDrawings

Provenancewith Mrs. Catherine Wilman, Sarasota; gift to The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, in memory of Donald Grant Wilman, February 1978

Credit LineGift of Mrs. M. Catherine Wilman, in memory of Donald Grant Wilman, 1978

Object numberSN969

The eighteenth-century concept of childhood was quite different from how it is understood today. Portraits of aristocratic or noble youth were intended to reinforce dynastic lineage and therefore portray the children as “miniature” adults. Although pastel, composed of dry pigment, a filler, and a binder, is an extremely fragile medium necessitating as little movement as possible, it has a number of benefits for the artist. It is both line and color laid down at the same time and can be blended into soft color variations. Pastel is easily erased so that the image can be quickly altered, and it enables a wide variety of texture from the matte finish of velvet to the luminosity of flesh.

On View

Not on view

DimensionsImage: 20 x 18 in. (50.8 x 45.7 cm)