Portret van Marie Anne de Bourbon c. 1680 - 1729

Curator: Well, hello there! Feast your eyes on this! What do you see? I ask myself, and more importantly, you! This is a portrait of Marie Anne de Bourbon. Bonnart gave her life on paper somewhere between 1680 and 1729. Talk about being immortalized! Editor: It strikes me as a portrait of stiff elegance. The dress is… imposing. Is “imposing” a feeling? Never mind! The whole composition has this sort of vertical thrust. Curator: Imposing is a brilliant choice of word, indeed! What you're seeing is an engraving, a print if you will, showcasing Marie Anne in all her aristocratic glory. She looks as though she could topple over forwards, no? That hair...it is, as you imply, magnificent. The dress tells a tale, eh? Power, grace and of course, a dash of political narrative for flavor. Bonnart just loves history! Editor: Precisely! Look how the folds in the dress create layers, and how they direct the eye back up the frame to the face, and onward, ever upward, toward that precarious confection she wears up top. Bonnart really seems to highlight the materiality here, especially given that it’s, well, a print. Curator: Indeed! You picked up on a pivotal theme! Notice the balance created, not only through structure, but color... that maroon plays against the blue skirt so elegantly... Editor: The detail in that dress! The patterns practically dance off the surface of the paper! There's a rhythm and pattern in everything that makes it just pop out at you. It's like Bonnart knew that, a few centuries later, we'd all be saying 'Wow, look at the layers!' Curator: Absolutely! Bonnart gives me this quirky sense of time travel, whispering secrets of forgotten aristocratic soirees... almost makes me wish I were invited, but knowing I’d probably feel very out of place! Editor: Agreed, let us leave it there for now, for fear we'll make her drop her fan and ruin the perfect composition!