Portret van een vrouw, ten halven lijve 1848 - 1927

August Allebé made this half-length portrait drawing of a woman, with graphite on paper. We don’t know for sure who she was, but it’s interesting to consider how Allebé, as director of the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, responded to the increasing visibility of women in Dutch society. Made at the end of the 19th century, the drawing shows a woman with an earnest but neutral expression. We can see through the unfinished lines that the artist focused on her face, costume and posture. Unlike the idealized female figures of the old masters, this woman is an individual, yet there is no indication of her social role or profession. Today, social historians and art historians might seek to understand the drawing through the lens of the Dutch women's movement during this period. We might ask how the artist’s institutional role and the woman's individual identity are articulated, and what they might tell us about Dutch society at the time.