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Study of the Head of an Old Woman

Creator

French Artist · 1725–1805

> Courage, my friend Greuze, go ahead and moralize with your paintbrush, and always continue in this manner! > > --Denis Diderot After training in Lyon, Jean-Baptiste Greuze arrived in Paris in 1750, where he sporadically attended the Académie Royale. His 1755 Salon debut was a triumph, but the acclamation turned his head. He antagonized everyone, including fellow artists, which later proved disas

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Date: about 1772–1775
Medium: Red chalk
Culture: French
Department: Drawings
Institution: Getty Museum

A consummate draftsman, Jean-Baptiste Greuze made many vivid, expressive large-scale head studies in red chalk, his favorite medium for drawing. Here he only quickly indicated the woman's cap and hood, concentrating his attention on the emotional and expressive qualities of her haggard face with its furrowed brow, penetrating eyes, and parted lips. Greuze made this drawing as a preparatory study for the figure of a woman kneeling at her husband's bedside in one of his best-known paintings, *La Dame de Charité*, completed in 1775 at the height of his career. Greuze's narrative paintings were highly theatrical, with facial expression and gesture conveying the story. As seen here, Greuze usually heightened the drama by depicting his figures at the peak of emotion.

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