Mademoiselle Jeanne Hayard 

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres sketched "Mademoiselle Jeanne Hayard" in Rome in 1815. The portrait presents a young woman who embodies the Empire style and yet there is something unconventional that subtly pushes back against the Neoclassical. Ingres, as a figure deeply implicated in the academic tradition, was a portraitist of the bourgeoisie. Here, Jeanne Hayard is depicted holding her corset, a garment that was crucial in shaping the female body to align with the fashionable silhouette of the time, but Hayard’s direct gaze challenges the traditional demureness expected of women in portraiture. By including the corset as a prop, Ingres acknowledges the artificiality of beauty standards and the constraints placed on women. It's as if she is inviting us to reflect on the performative aspects of femininity. What does it mean to both adhere to and subtly resist societal expectations? This tension captures a moment of quiet defiance and introspection.