Siddende ung pige i balkjole 1802 - 1892

Constantin Guys sketched this seated young woman in a ball gown using pen and brown wash, probably in the mid-19th century. The image evokes the world of Parisian high society during the Second Empire. Guys was an acute observer of modern life, especially the rituals of fashion and social display. His sketches often captured the fleeting moments and poses of elegant women. The loose, informal style reflects the growing taste for immediacy and spontaneity in art, challenging the formal conventions of academic painting, and mirroring a shift in social values toward valuing the individual. To understand the image, historians consult fashion plates, social commentary, and literature of the time. Art is always embedded in its social context, and it is through studying that context that we can better understand its meaning.