Portrait of a Woman. Artist: baron Antoine Jean Gros (French, Paris 1771-1835 Meudon). Dimensions: Sheet: 11 in. × 7 5/8 in. (28 × 19.4 cm). Date: ca.1793-1800.
Baron Gros was a highly successful student of Neoclassical painter Jacques Louis David (French, 1748-1825). Gros received many commissions for large history paintings during the Napoleonic period, but eventually relied on portraiture to support himself. This signed pair of half-length portraits (see also 2014.271.1) offer few clues as to the sitters' identities. Presumably a husband and wife, they sit in simple chairs against an unadorned background.Their frank and intimate expressions alone carry the force of expression.