Charles-Joseph Ernest De Ligne 1807

Joseph Kreutzinger portrayed Charles-Joseph Ernest De Ligne in a pastel drawing sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century. Pastel is an interesting medium; it's pure pigment, like that used for painting, but it comes in the form of sticks, almost like chalk. This means that the artist isn't really painting or drawing, but something in between, directly transferring dry color onto the surface of the paper. You can see the texture of the pastel strokes, creating soft transitions of tone. This technique allowed for quick and relatively inexpensive portraiture. It was faster than painting with oils and more forgiving than a crisp drawing, making it a popular choice for capturing likenesses of the upper class. While we often place "drawing" below "painting" in our cultural estimation, this belies the level of skill required for a finely wrought pastel like this one. The artist’s hand is very much in evidence.