The Chocolate Girl by Jean-Étienne Liotard was created in 1744. The painting is in Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister Dresden. The size of the work is 82,5 x 52,5 cm and is made of pastel on parchment.
About the Work
The Chocolate Girl (French: La Belle Chocolatière, German: Das Schokoladenmädchen) is one of the most prominent pastels of the Genevan artist Jean-Étienne Liotard, showing a maid serving drinking chocolate. The girl carries a tray with a porcelain chocolate cup of the trembleuse type, on a “galleried” silver saucer, and a glass of water. Liotard’s contemporaries classed The Chocolate Girl as his masterpiece.
Though normally described as a “maid”, it is possible that the model was a banker’s daughter from Vienna, Charlotte or Nannerl Baldauf, later Countess Drietrichstein. The back of an 18th-century reduced copy in Orleans House near London has an old label saying: “Portrait of Charlotte Baldauf. Drawn by Liotard during his stay at the house of Mr Baldauf, banker of Vienna. Charlotte Baldauf became Countess Drietrichstein. From the collection of Lord Taunton (E.Labouchere)”, who received his peerage in 1859, and died in 1869. Read more in Wikipedia
About the Artist
Jean-Étienne Liotard (22 December 1702 – 12 June 1789) was a Genevan painter, art connoisseur and dealer. He is best known for his detailed, strikingly naturalistic portraits in pastel, and for the works from his stay in Turkey. A Huguenot of French origin and citizen of the Republic of Geneva, he was born and died in Geneva, but spent most of his career in stays in the capitals of Europe, where his portraits were much in demand. He worked in Rome, Istanbul, Paris, Vienna, London, and other cities.
Liotard was born in Geneva. His parents were French Protestants who had fled to Geneva after 1685. Jean-Étienne Liotard began his studies under professors Daniel Gardelle and Petitot, whose enamels and miniatures he copied with considerable skill. Read more in Wikipedia
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