Portrait of a Woman: Juliette Courbet

Gustave Courbet took a modern approach to portraiture in this seemingly unfinished painting. He depicted his sister Juliette in a frank and unembellished manner that is striking for its intentionally somber tonality. Courbet set the figure in a landscape, in keeping with his primary artistic focus at the time. The artist evokes the distinctive, chalky white cliffs of their hometown Ornans in the background. He drew inspiration from the people and the topography of this region over the course of his long career.