Portrait of Miss Cabarrus

This 1848 Portrait of Miss Cabarrus at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Quimper represents Chassériau's late portrait work, completed just before his premature death at thirty-seven. His portraits of young women combined classical ideal beauty with individual characterization and romantic warmth. Chassériau, a pupil of Ingres who was also deeply influenced by Delacroix, occupied a unique position between classical line and Romantic color that made him one of the most original French painters of his g

The young woman's portrait is rendered with refined elegance and warm coloring, Chassériau's mature technique achieving a balance of precise drawing and sensuous paint handling that characterized his finest late portraits.