Study Of A Young Woman's Head

A red chalk study depicting the profile of a young woman, by Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée, known as Lagrenée the Elder (1725–1805).
With great delicacy, this drawing highlights the artist’s mastery of the medium. The lines are executed with great confidence, while the soft hatching of the red chalk subtly models the volumes of the face and hair. This type of study, created from life or in preparation for a composition, attests to the importance placed on drawing in 18th-century academic training.

Winner of the First Grand Prix de Rome in 1749, Lagrenée spent several years in Italy before becoming a member of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. He was subsequently appointed director of the French Academy in Rome, then chief painter to Empress Elizabeth of Russia. His work, influenced by antiquity and Raphael, fully reflects the emergence of the neoclassical style.

This red chalk drawing, executed with great freshness, is a remarkable testament to the art of French drawing in the 18th century and illustrates the talent of an artist whose works are now housed in the world’s greatest museums, notably the Louvre, the Palace of Versailles, and the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg.