1847

Madame Burg de Balsan, Wife of the Ambassador

French (born El Limón, Dominican Republic), 1819 - 1856

Théodore Chassériau created drawings as a source of relaxation and frequently received requests for portrait drawings during social gatherings; he would render a portrait quickly and then present it to the sitter. This nearly full-length portrait, whose precise execution and delicate psychological insight betray Chassériau's training in the studio of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, was obviously posed with care and includes so many finely described details that it could not have been one of those that the artist created casually.