Vrouw in een japon 1710 - 1772

This drawing by Petrus Johannes van Reysschoot depicts a woman in a gown using red chalk. The woman’s elaborate dress, complete with lace, points to status and a cultural ideal of femininity. The formality of dress, the upward gaze and the slightly parted lips echo poses found in Renaissance portraits, which can be traced even further back to classical antiquity. Across centuries, the slightly parted lips have appeared as a symbolic gesture in other portraits, embodying the concept of idealized beauty. We see similar poses repeated in different contexts, yet the meaning often remains the same. This visual language speaks to the enduring human fascination with capturing and idealizing beauty, manifesting the ongoing influence of classical ideals on artistic expression across eras.