Preparation tothe portrait of Marie Catherine Dufloquet Reals, wife of Rene Masse Nicolas Gregoire 

Maurice Quentin de La Tour made this pastel portrait, Preparation to the portrait of Marie Catherine Dufloquet Reals, wife of Rene Masse Nicolas Gregoire, as a study for a larger work. La Tour was the most fashionable portraitist in mid-18th century Paris. As a member of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, he exhibited regularly at the Salon. But La Tour stood out, as he worked almost exclusively in pastel. This medium allowed for a remarkable immediacy and informality. The very texture of pastel, its powdery softness, enabled La Tour to capture the nuances of light and expression. Pastels like this one, give us a vivid sense of the sitter's personality, of the social world of the French Enlightenment, and of the institutions through which artistic reputations were made. By consulting contemporary sources, such as Salon reviews and Academy records, we can learn more about the conditions that shaped this image. The meaning of art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.