Henriette Harvey and her half sister Elizabeth Norton 

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres created this delicate portrait, Henriette Harvey and her half sister Elizabeth Norton, in 1814 using graphite on paper. Ingres was renowned for his precise draftsmanship, and this piece exemplifies his mastery. Look closely and you can see how the qualities of graphite – its smoothness and capacity for fine lines and subtle shading – allowed him to capture the textures of fabric, hair, and skin with remarkable fidelity. Yet, this work is more than just a technical exercise; it reveals the social context of its creation. The fashion of the women’s dresses reflect the period's neo-classical style, and the amount of work involved in the production of their clothing, from the cultivation of cotton to the weaving and sewing, speaks to the complex networks of labor and trade that underpinned early 19th-century society. This drawing invites us to see how materials, making, and context converge to give meaning to a work of art, transcending traditional boundaries between fine art and craft.