Portrait of Madame Ravaisson

Théodore Chassériau

1846 · Graphite on white wove paper darkened to buff · Robert Lehman Collection

Judging from its identical inscription, this portrait of Madame Félix Ravaisson appears to have been drawn at the same time as that of her husband. The companion portraits remained in the Ravaisson-Mollien family until 1960. Robert Lehman acquired them soon afterward. Although the portraits convey Chasseriau’s unmistakable debt to Ingres, their style is more lively and energetic than the cool, controlled precision of Ingres’s own elegant sitters, sketched to meticulous perfection.

Artist

Théodore Chassériau

Date

1846

Medium

Graphite on white wove paper darkened to buff

Department

Robert Lehman Collection

Credit line

Robert Lehman Collection, 1975