Portrait of a Young Woman Wearing a Cloak and Bonnet

Portrait of a Young Woman Wearing a Cloak and Bonnet

Théodore Chassériau

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In this beautiful image, Chassériau devoted more attention to the woman’s garments and accessories than to her features—the opposite approach his teacher, Ingres, took in portrait drawings. An array of vigorous lines describes the voluminous folds of her cloak, while her face, framed by a bonnet, appears almost ghostly by comparison, rendered in the faintest graphite shading.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Portrait of a Young Woman Wearing a Cloak and BonnetPortrait of a Young Woman Wearing a Cloak and BonnetPortrait of a Young Woman Wearing a Cloak and BonnetPortrait of a Young Woman Wearing a Cloak and BonnetPortrait of a Young Woman Wearing a Cloak and Bonnet

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.