Cleveland Museum of Art

Sophie Crouzet

Louis Hersent

Date

c. 1801

Medium

oil on fabric

Culture

France, late 18th-early 19th century

Department

Modern European Painting and Sculpture

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The sitter's dress deliberately evokes ancient Roman costume. However, the white muslin and straightforward cut also derives from earlier English fashions that favored simplicity in contrast to the elaborate, colorful clothing favored earlier in the 1700s. The transparency of her dress also carries political and cultural meaning: during the French Revolution in 1789, costume began to signify political allegiance, a sign of the character of the person who wore it. For women, transparency became increasingly literal, as in the sheer fabric worn by Crouzet, who came from a family of active revolutionaries. Sophie Crouzet, the sitter in this portrait, is a first cousin of the artist.

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