Portrait of Madame Ditte-Harmite
Medium
Lithograph; only state
Dimensions
Sheet: 14 1/8 × 9 13/16 in. (35.8 × 25 cm) Image: 8 7/16 × 5 5/16 in. (21.5 × 13.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1922
Accession Number
22.74.4
Tags
Art Historical Context
This elegant lithograph by Jean-Baptiste Isabey captures the refined portraiture of early nineteenth-century France. Created 1825 during the Bourbon Restoration, the work reflects Isabey’s transition from his celebrated role as court miniaturist under Napoleon to exploring the new medium of lithography. The print’s delicate lines and soft tonal gradations showcase the artist’s skill in translating the intimacy of drawing onto stone, allowing for wider circulation of portraiture beyond elite circles. As a single-state impression, the lithograph highlights the precision and spontaneity possible...
About the Artist
Jean-Baptiste Isabey · 1767–1855
Jean-Baptiste Isabey (1767–1855) was a French painter and miniaturist whose extraordinary longevity and adaptability allowed him to serve as the preeminent portraitist of successive French regimes — from the court of Louis XVI through the Revolution, the Napoleonic Empire, the Restoration, and into the July Monarchy — making his career an almost unparalleled chronicle of French political and socia...