Two Actresses

Two Actresses, dated 1699 and now in the Hermitage Museum, places Santerre in the glamorous and ambivalent world of the Parisian stage. Actresses in seventeenth-century France occupied a fascinating cultural position: celebrated for their beauty and talent, they were simultaneously excluded from Christian burial (as per Catholic practice toward performers) and were the companions and muses of the wealthiest men in the kingdom. Their depiction in painting was correspondingly complex — they could be shown in character, in undress before or after performance, or simply as beautiful women whose professional identity added a charged edge to conventional portraiture. The Hermitage's French Baroque holdings include significant works acquired during the great Imperial Russian collecting campaigns of the eighteenth century.

A double figure composition allowed Santerre to exploit the contrast and relationship between two women, exploring the subtle differentiation of type, emotion, and social relation that single-figure paintings could not achieve. His characteristic soft flesh modelling is here applied to two subjects, requiring careful tonal management to prevent visual competition between them.