Head of a young blond girl with blue eyes (Laure-Zoega) 

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres painted this oil on canvas portrait of Laure-Zoega sometime in the 19th century. What strikes me is how he coaxes such a strong likeness from such a seemingly straightforward method. The pigments, ground from minerals and mixed with oil, have an inherent materiality that Ingres uses to full effect. Note how he builds up the form of the face with thin layers of paint, scumbling the brush to create subtle variations in tone. Look closely at the hair, where the paint is applied more thickly, creating texture and depth. You can see how the artist worked and reworked the surface, building up layers of color and tone to achieve the desired effect. Ingres was deeply invested in the traditions of his artistic predecessors, yet he clearly experimented with technique to push his medium to its limits. This work is a testament to the power of paint to capture the essence of a subject, elevating the craft of portraiture to a high art.