Art Analysis: Young Woman Drawing

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Inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art the one painting that I kept coming back to was Young Woman Drawing by Marie-Denise Villers. The 1801 painting, done in oil on canvas, is fairly large at 63 1/2 x 50 5/8 inches. It hangs in a golden frame with spiraling leaves embellishing the outer border. At the top they meet into a wreath of roses and lilac, with a ribbon bow in the center. The work itself is a genre painting done in a neoclassic style. An air of mystery surrounds the origins of the painting and the subject. Many believe it may be a self-portrait of the artist herself. She sits in a dark room on a chair, draped in dark red fabric. The background splits into two approximately two halves, one a gray wall and one a brown-framed window, which supplies the light source. It casts an illuminating outline of the woman’s figure, her shadowed head, arm, and body contrasted deeply by the halo of light surrounding them. There is a calmness surrounding her body language, her shoulders relaxed, her left …show more content…

Perhaps we are her subject matter. Her expression is tranquil, her mouth forming a slight smile, but her deep blue eyes almost hold certain sadness. There is something very empathetic about her. I get the sensation that I am looking into the eyes of a real human being with a genuine life story that lead her up until this scene. I am looking into a moment of her life and I’m wondering what she is thinking. Compared with the fine detail and many layers put into the subject and her chair, the rest of the scene is simple. Some areas evem seem unfinished, especially the scene outside. The paint is applied so thinly that some brushstrokes on the wall and floor are still visible. You can almost still see some pencil outlines. The background does its very job of sinking into the background, all the more drawing your attention immediately towards the presence of the mysterious young

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