Bust of a girl 

Joan Brull created this chalk drawing of a girl sometime around the turn of the 20th century in his native Spain. It's a study in the symbolic language of the late 19th century, which saw the rise of both Modernism and increasing social conservatism. Brull was an important figure in the Catalan art scene, and this drawing shows us how portraiture could be used to communicate ideas about beauty, innocence, and social roles. Note the classical composition, where the sitter's gaze is directed slightly away from the viewer, imbuing her with a sense of mystery, and the way her youth is highlighted to enhance an aura of purity. The cultural context of Catalonia in this period, with its own conservative values and institutions, would be revealed in detail through research into the social history of the time. We might examine popular literature, fashion trends, and other forms of visual culture to understand how the meaning of this work would have been understood at the time it was made.