''Jeune fille en buste'' (Portrait of the young girl) is a work by
Pierre-Narcisse Guérin painted in 1794 and exhibited at the
Louvre in
Paris.
Background
One of Guérin's early works, the painting treats the subject in a frank and direct way. It is a portrait of a young girl, depicted while covering her breasts with both hands. The smooth background, simplicity of the design and the use of the measured color are characteristic of the
neo-classical style and of the school of
Jean-Baptiste Regnault and
Jacques-Louis David
Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...
. The work was acquired by the Louvre in 1978.
The girl's short hair is inspired by the "Titus style model" (french:
à la Titus),
popular in France at the time and based on the hairstyle of the Roman era. In fact, the work is one of the first paintings to depict this hairstyle.
The style may have taken its name from Titus Junius Brutus, son of the Roman politician
Lucius Junius Brutus
Lucius Junius Brutus ( 6th century BC) was the semi-legendary founder of the Roman Republic, and traditionally one of its first consuls in 509 BC. He was reputedly responsible for the expulsion of his uncle the Roman king Tarquinius Superbus after ...
.
Mary Novik
Mary Novik is a Canadian novelist.
Biography
Born in Victoria, British Columbia and raised in Victoria and Surrey, Mary Novik received a Ph.D. in literature from The University of British Columbia and lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.Gudru ...
's debut novel, ''
Conceit'' used the image for the cover of the book.
References
External links
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{{18C-painting-stub
1794 paintings
Paintings in the Louvre by French artists
Women in art
Neoclassical paintings