Mlle Louise Riesener au chapeau

Louise Riesener was the daughter of painter Henri-François Riesener and a niece by marriage of Delacroix, making her part of the interconnected family networks of French art. Morisot painted her in 1888 wearing a distinctive hat, the detail that the French title foregrounds. Morisot was persistently drawn to the specificity of dress and millinery in her portraits of women, treating these as expressive rather than merely descriptive elements. This portrait at the Cleveland Museum of Art belongs to her late career when her handling had grown increasingly bold and economical.

The hat becomes almost an abstract form in Morisot's handling — a dark mass anchoring the top of the composition and throwing the face into contrast. Her technique here is at its most abbreviated, individual strokes remaining visible and unblended.