View of the City Saint-Quentin 

This 'View of the City Saint-Quentin' was made by Maurice Quentin de La Tour, who was born in Saint-Quentin, in the north of France. This charming work is executed in pastel - ground pigments held together with a binder and formed into sticks. Pastels were a popular medium in the eighteenth century because they allowed for the rapid execution of portraits, with a soft, flattering finish. But here, La Tour has used pastel in a less conventional way, to depict the urban landscape of his hometown. The pastel medium lends itself well to capturing the textures of the city, from the rough stone of the fortifications to the smooth, almost dreamlike quality of the sky. Notice how the repetitive marks used to render the architecture are distinct from those depicting the figures in the foreground. This attention to detail, coupled with the unusual choice of subject matter, elevates the image beyond a mere topographical record, suggesting instead a personal connection to the place. It reminds us that even the most conventional materials can be used in surprising ways.