Marie Josephe of Saxony, Dauphine and a son 

This portrait of Marie Josephe of Saxony and her son, was made with pastels by Maurice Quentin de la Tour. Pastels allowed artists to achieve incredible detail and texture, almost like painting with pure pigment. Look closely, and you can see the almost photographic rendering of silk fabrics and elaborate fur trim. The shimmering surfaces would have taken tremendous labor to create, as would the embroidered details of the child’s clothing. Consider how these depictions of material wealth speak to wider social issues of labor, politics, and consumption. It is a testament to de la Tour’s technical skill that this highly crafted, polished image appears so effortless and immediate. The artist is known to have worked on portraits over a long period of time to bring forth the sitter's personality, using his tools to blur the distinction between fine art and craft.