La baronessa de Rothschild

Ingres worked on this portrait of Betty de Rothschild, wife of the Paris banker James de Rothschild, for years, and finished it in 1848, the year revolution swept the July Monarchy off its throne and sent kings and financiers scrambling. She turns toward you from a plain dark ground in a shot-pink satin gown, relaxed and faintly amused, her jewels caught in a few exact strokes. Ingres thought of himself as a history painter and grumbled about portrait commissions, yet he poured extraordinary care into the fall of the silk and the tilt of her head. The easy pose, one arm bent and the chin resting lightly on the hand, is one he returned to across his portraits of society women.