After Jean Greuze

After JEAN BAPTISTE GREUZE (Tournus, 1725-Paris, 1805).
"Female portrait", c. 1850-1880.
Oil on canvas
Measurements: 45,5 x 37 cm; 60 x 53 cm (frame).
This painting belongs to the eighteenth-century sensualist style, although adapted to the romantic canons of the nineteenth century. The influence of Jean Baptiste Greuze can be seen in the freshness of the flesh tones and in the reproduction of the qualities, in fact there is a very similar painting attributed to Greuze in the collection of the Bowes Museum, in addition to the Portrait of a girl with a white cap, preserved in the Cognacq-Jay Museum. Greuze bequeathed us similar compositions, of girls in which the precision of detail reflected his technical skill and sensitivity in capturing emotional nuances. Greuze's influence is evident not only in the typology of the female face, with its soft features, moist gaze and melancholic expression, but also in the moral charge implicit in the image.
In short, this work is part of the tradition of sentimental painting of the eighteenth century, demonstrating the continuity of an aesthetic model that, through the workshop of Jean-Baptiste Greuze, achieved wide dissemination. The work stands out not only for its formal quality and state of preservation, but also for its ability to embody, with delicacy and rigor, the expressive and moral values that defined one of the most influential currents of French painting of its time.
The son of a businessman and architect, from an early age he showed a marked inclination towards drawing, despite the wishes of his father, who wanted him to devote himself to commerce. His artistic vocation was encouraged by the Lyon painter Charles Grandon, of whom he was a disciple. Subsequently, Greuze moved to Paris with his master and settled in the capital in 1750. He entered as a student at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, under the tutelage of Charles-Joseph Natoire, with whom he had some disagreements.His debut at the Salon of 1755 was a resounding success, especially with the work The father of a family reading the Bible to his children, which received an excellent reception. That same year he was admitted as an associate member of the Academy. Between 1755 and 1757 he lived in Rome.