Contest for the Prize for the Study of Heads and Expression
1763, based on a drawing from 1761
Medium
Etching and engraving on off-white laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 20.6 × 26.6 cm (8 1/8 × 10 1/2 in.); Sheet: 23.6 × 28.8 cm (9 5/16 × 11 3/8 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
201534
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
After Le Brun’s death, both fledgling and established artists evidently still struggled to properly depict facial expressions. The amateur etcher and antiquarian Comte de Caylus established an annual prize at the French Academy to encourage this study. Flipart’s print of one such competition shows the model as the requisite well-bred, wreathed woman with an ankle exposed, and a typically inscrutable expression that may represent contentment, calm, or simple boredom.