Aline Masson con tocado de gasa. 1880

Raimundo de Madrazo painted this portrait of Aline Masson, probably in the late nineteenth century. Its style is typical of its time, but what does it tell us about the social structures of the period? Madrazo was a Spanish artist who spent much of his career in Paris, a city that was then the undisputed center of the art world. He was part of a well-established artistic family and benefitted from a network of contacts and patrons. This portrait shows a woman of the upper classes. The details of her dress and the quality of the painting itself indicate wealth and status. In this period, portraits of this kind were important displays of social position and family prestige. To understand this work better, we would need to research the artist’s biography, the sitter's family history, and the exhibition records of the Parisian art world. We must examine artworks within their institutional and social contexts to understand their full meaning.