Portrait of Zacharie Astruc

Felix Bracquemond 1833 - 1914

Summary

In this portrait the sitter is a young, bearded man wearing a shirt and tie, and although only his upper torso is visible he is clearly sitting down as part of the chair can be seen in the bottom right-hand corner. What is noticeable however, is the change in style between the rendering of the sitter’s torso and his face. The man’s face is finely modelled with subtle graduations between light and shade. He is shown unsmiling, looking directly out at the viewer and his face is framed by his dark curly hair and beard. In contrast to this the shirt and loose tie he wears are represented through quite minimal and sketchy line-work. Simple lines represent the folds in the fabric and the variation between light and shade is created through quite broad hatching rather than the fine stippling used around his face. Other than the man’s figure there are no other details in the print and the background is left completely plain.