Portrait of a Young Girl 1812

Editor: So here we have Pierre-Narcisse Guerin’s "Portrait of a Young Girl" painted in 1812 using oil paints, currently held at the Louvre. She’s so… vulnerable, and there’s a captivating stillness about the whole piece, the dark gray color emphasizing the white flesh. What strikes you about this work? Curator: Vulnerable indeed! She’s caught between worlds, isn’t she? Innocence and the first blush of… awareness. Those hands, like startled birds trying to cover up something. Perhaps Guerin isn't trying to paint pure flesh but an allegory, like Cupid awakened by a kiss from Psyche. The light seems to agree; notice how it isn’t consistent. The gray feels alive because it seems to respond to the scene. Does it almost look like a stage? Editor: Yes, I see what you mean! The staging feels… intentional. I also find her gaze a bit odd. Is she looking inward, or somewhere in the distance? Curator: Exactly! And there we arrive. Perhaps Guerin means her gaze to follow the eyes of Cupid; his target. We all follow something that seems very important. The painting whispers of nascent desires, of secrets waiting to unfold. In her, a world that dreams. What happens in the dreams of a Romantic? Perhaps beauty or maybe terror. That blush is quite rosy. Too rosy? Editor: Maybe…almost a premonition of future troubles? Thanks, that makes me look at her with different eyes! Curator: Isn't that how the world works? Different angles let different lights reach, the same story becomes new again.