759 - Portraitist, child portrait of a boy in brown jacket with hat before a column with blue curtain

Portraitist, child portrait of a boy in brown jacket with hat before a column with blue curtain Pastel on paper, signed centre left (not deciphered), half-length portrait of a boy with short brown hair in a brown jacket and white shirt with stand-up collar, holding a light-coloured hat in his right hand, on the left a white column and a blue curtain with gold-coloured tassel, the remaining background kept neutral, condition commensurate with age, tear at lower centre through the image, slightly stained, image 47x38 cm (HxW), behind glass, framed, frame chipped, frame width 3 cm Pastel is a technique with dry colours whose velvety texture and matt effect distinguish it from oil painting. Pastel painting experienced its heyday in the 18th century, when artists such as Rosalba Carriera (1675 to 1757) and Maurice Quentin de La Tour created portraits that were hardly inferior to oil paintings in their precision of detail. In the 19th century the Impressionists also turned to pastel in order to render subtle nuances of light and atmosphere.