Portrait of Madame Langeron, Four Years Old 1845

Camille Corot painted this portrait of Madame Langeron, aged four, in oil on canvas, during the first half of the 19th century. At this time, childhood was becoming an important cultural idea, and images of children offered a chance to explore notions of innocence and potential. The little girl’s dress, hair and facial features, are all coded with meaning. The whiteness of her dress suggests purity, whilst her pose and her doll prefigure her future role as a mother. What is also interesting is Corot's move away from the formal conventions of portraiture and the establishment of an informal and intimate relationship with the sitter. To understand a work like this better, an art historian would want to research the changing status of children in 19th-century France, as well as the evolving conventions of portraiture at the time. This painting, like all art, is best understood through its social and institutional context.