Head of a Woman in Profile (George Sand)

1833

Head of a Woman in Profile (George Sand), 1833. Pierre-Jean David d'Angers (French, 1788–1856). Graphite; sheet: 20.6 x 15.8 cm (8 1/8 x 6 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the Painting and Drawing Society of The Cleveland Museum of Art 2000.40 David d'Angers aimed to create a series of portraits in sculpture that would capture all of the outstanding men and women of his time. This drawing relates to a medallion portrait of the writer George Sand, the pseudonym adopted by a woman named Amandine-Aurore-Lucile Dupin so that she could publish her work. David d'Angers captured his sitter's independence sympathetically, as she stares forward and upward, as if seen in thought.