Alexandrine-Sophie de Bawr

Alexandrine-Sophie de Bawr (1773-1860) was a French novelist and composer, a figure of Parisian literary society who published novels, composed operas, and wrote memoirs. Boilly's portrait of her links his work to the intellectual world of early nineteenth-century Paris — he was acquainted with writers, actors, and musicians, and his portraits of cultural figures complement his genre scenes with a kind of social portraiture that maps his connections through the Parisian intelligentsia. De Bawr's own works engaged with Napoleonic and post-Revolutionary society with shrewd sociological observation, making her an apt subject for Boilly's equally observant brush.

Boilly's portrait technique is more restrained than his genre work — the background simplified, the accessories reduced, attention concentrated on the face and its expression of alert intelligence. His smooth modeling gives the skin a characteristic cool luminosity distinct from his rougher English contemporaries.