Portret van Pierre-Marie Beyle before 1878

This portrait of Pierre-Marie Beyle was made by an anonymous artist and inserted in an album, at an unknown date. The album page reveals a moment of cultural exchange, or perhaps, appropriation. Beyle’s portrait is set within a decorative frame, itself adorned with Japanese motifs. This Japonisme was a craze that swept across Europe from the late 19th century, when the opening up of Japan's economy and culture had a profound effect on Western artists. Japanese prints, textiles, and other objects became highly fashionable, influencing the composition, color palettes, and subject matter of European art. This page is thus a window onto both the taste of the sitter and the artist. Understanding the context of such cultural exchanges requires us to look to historical sources, trade records, museum collections, and personal archives to understand the complex relationships between cultures and the ways in which art reflects, and shapes, those relationships.