Portret van Marianna Tokarska 1787

Jean-Pierre Norblin de la Gourdaine etched this portrait of Marianna Tokarska. The work is undated, but we can place it within the artist's period of activity in Poland during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Norblin, a French artist who became a key figure in Polish art, presents Tokarska in an intimate, informal manner. This aesthetic aligns with the Enlightenment's growing interest in naturalism, emotion, and the individual. The image subtly challenges the formal conventions of aristocratic portraiture, which traditionally served to reinforce social hierarchies. Consider, for example, the un-idealized features and the rather loose, flowing hairstyle, which contrast with the rigid formality of court portraiture. What does this shift towards more intimate representation tell us about evolving social values at the time? To understand this work better, we might delve into sources relating to Polish society of the period, the history of portraiture, and the biography of Norblin himself.