English school; c.1790.

English school; c.1790.
"Portrait of a girl."
Graphite, wax and chalk.
Measurements: 41 x 36 cm.
Child portrait that embodies the aesthetic sensibility of the child portrait in the transition between the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The composition is simple but effective: the girl appears in bust, of slightly inclined profile, inscribed inside a circle that remembers the classic medallions. This resource reinforces a sense of intimacy and harmony, very typical of neoclassical taste. The lowered gaze and the slight smile suggest seclusion, innocence and a certain idealization of childhood, values highly appreciated in the visual culture of the time.
More than a deep psychological portrait, the work functions as a study of childlike grace and purity, where the individual blends with the ideal. This type of piece was common in Georgian England, where portraiture, even in modest formats, fulfilled an affective as well as a social function.