Jean-Jacques Rousseau 

This is Maurice Quentin de La Tour's portrait of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, made with pastels sometime in the mid-18th century. Pastel is an interesting choice of medium; it's basically pure pigment, the same stuff that goes into paint, but instead of being suspended in oil or acrylic, it's just lightly bound together. This gives it a unique, velvety texture and allows for very subtle gradations of color. Look at how La Tour uses the pastel to capture the soft, almost ethereal quality of Rousseau's face. You can really see the hand of the artist in the way the strokes are laid down, building up the image layer by layer. Unlike oil paint, which can be blended to create a smooth surface, pastel retains a sense of immediacy. It is a direct translation of thought into image. Pastel was often seen as a less serious medium than oil paint. But here, La Tour elevates it to new heights, capturing the essence of one of the Enlightenment's most important thinkers. It reminds us that the value of art isn't just about the materials used, but about the skill and vision of the artist.