Portrait of a Young Boy 

Catherine Lusurier made this portrait of a young boy using pastel and black chalk, heightened with white chalk, on gray-blue laid paper. Although undated, we can assume it was made during Lusurier's short career in France, before her death in 1781. This work raises fascinating questions about the social conventions surrounding portraiture in pre-revolutionary France. Lusurier was a woman working in a male-dominated field and although little is known about her life and career, this intimate portrait of a young boy tells us a lot about the role of children within the family at the time. The work may have been commissioned by the boy's family, or perhaps it was produced independently for sale on the open market. The way the boy is presented with his hand tucked inside his jacket shows that he belongs to the bourgeoisie or the aristocracy. By consulting sources such as historical census records, we could learn more about the social and institutional structures in which Lusurier worked and for whom she produced art.