Accession Number
2009.140
Medium
black chalk
Dimensions
Sheet: 25.5 x 18.1 cm (10 1/16 x 7 1/8 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Credit Line
Bequest of Muriel Butkin
Tags
Drawing French
Background & Context
Background Story
Thomas Casimir Regnault (active early 19th century) was a French artist known for the precisely observed, characterfully composed drawings of fashionable subjects that make him one of the accomplished artists of the French tradition. Bonaparte Women depicts the women of the Bonaparte family in the precisely observed, characterfully composed manner that distinguishes Regnault's best work. The women of the Bonaparte family were among the most fashionable and socially prominent women of the Napoleonic era, and Regnault's precisely observed, characterfully composed treatment shows the French drawing tradition at its most accomplished.
Cultural Impact
Bonaparte Women is important in the history of French drawing because it depicts the women of the Bonaparte family in the precisely observed, characterfully composed manner of the French tradition. The women of the Bonaparte family were among the most fashionable and socially prominent women of the Napoleonic era, and Regnault's precisely observed, characterfully composed drawing shows the French tradition of depicting fashionable subjects at its most accomplished.
Why It Matters
Bonaparte Women is Regnault's precisely observed French drawing: the women of the Bonaparte family depicted in the characterfully composed manner of the French tradition. The drawing shows the fashionable and socially prominent women of the Napoleonic era at their most precisely observed.