Portrait of a Young Woman 

Pierre-Paul Prud'hon painted this oil on canvas portrait of an unknown young woman in France at the turn of the 19th century. The artist’s sensitivity to the effects of light and shade and the subtle sfumato of the face reflect the influence of Leonardo da Vinci. Prud'hon was a contemporary of Jacques-Louis David, whose work embodied the official Neoclassical style of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Empire. Yet Prud'hon cultivated a more personal, and arguably more progressive, style. While David served as the propagandist for the revolutionary government, Prud'hon sought a middle ground. The present portrait is less a commission for a wealthy patron and more a sympathetic study. The woman’s informal dress and natural pose set her apart from the strictures of courtly life. To fully understand this work, we might consider the broader history of portraiture, including the rise of academic art training, the market for portraiture, and the social functions it served.