Portrait of a young woman, Jean Baptiste Santerre (1651-1717)

The painting is a bust portrait of a young woman, belonging to the genre of "fantasy figures," a specialty that brought Jean-Baptiste Santerre fame. In these works, the artist captures female figures with naturalness and intimacy, without seeking strict accuracy of features, but favoring an idealized beauty, imbued with sensuality and candor, characteristic of his time.
 These compositions, generally small in format, were very successful. The model depicted is very likely Marguerite Blanchot, the painter's student, companion, and muse, who posed for several of his works, notably The Allegory of Painting, now in the Basel Museum.
 The attribution to Jean-Baptiste Santerre is supported by a very similar painting in the Albi museum (MNR 128), which is slightly larger in oval format. The painter was in the habit of creating several versions of the same subject in order to offer them to his patrons or buyers.
 Dimensions with frame: 89 cm x 76.5 cm
 Dimensions without frame: 62 cm x 50.5 cm