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Your galleryMademoiselle Louise Riesener in a Hat
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Compare the dense black marks of the hat with the lightly drawn shoulder, and notice how little outline the face needs.
Louise Riesener, daughter of the painter Léon Riesener, was Morisot’s close friend. This portrait uses pastel on paper that was originally pale blue. The elaborate hat receives much more attention than the lightly indicated clothing below, directing our eye toward the sitter’s profile and fashionable headwear.
pastel on pale blue laid paper · Sheet: 55.5 x 46.8 cm · Cleveland Museum of Art
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Mademoiselle Louise Riesener in a Hat
- Artist
- Berthe Morisot (French, 1841–1895)
- Date
- c. 1877–80
- Medium
- pastel on pale blue laid paper
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 55.5 x 46.8 cm (21 7/8 x 18 7/16 in.); Framed: 75.3 x 66.2 x 4.5 cm (29 5/8 x 26 1/16 x 1 3/4 in.)
- Credit line
- Bequest of Leonard C. Hanna Jr.
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Artist’s life 1841–1895
View in the AtlasGaller’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.