Pierrot

A boy is shown frontally, bust-length, wearing the same tall triangular patchwork cap tied under the chin with a tassel and a large white ruffled collar over a green garment. He looks directly out at the viewer, set against a wall crowded with small framed pictures - a pinkish townscape, a blue seascape and a sketched horse - above dark wood paneling.

Warm flesh tones are modeled tightly and smoothly on the face, while the background paintings and paneling are rendered in looser, more abstracted strokes of blue, rust and grey. Even, soft light and the child's steady, unblinking gaze give the portrait a solemn, direct presence.