Young Woman with a Fan (detail), early 1750s, Pietro Antonio Rotari. Pastel on blue-green paper, mounted on canvas. Getty Museum.

LOS ANGELES, CA.- The J. Paul Getty Museum presents Eighteenth-Century Pastels, an exhibition that explores the popularity of pastels across eighteenth-century Europe and showcases their striking physical properties. Presenting works from the Getty Museum collection along with four loans, the exhibition is on view at the Getty Center from August 30, 2022 to February 26, 2023.

By the mid-18th century, pastels reached an unprecedented peak of popularity and acclaim. The dry, satiny pigments, manufactured in sticks of every hue, were portable and allowed for swift execution—allowing artists to essentially “draw” a painting.

Jean-Étienne Liotard (Swiss, 1702 - 1789), Portrait of Maria Frederike van Reede-Athlone at Seven Years of Age, 1755–1756.  Pastel on vellum, 54.9 × 44.8 cm, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 83.PC.273.

“Working with pastels differs greatly from painting with oils, which require cumbersome equipment, long sittings, and extensive drying times,” says Emily Beeny, curator of European paintings at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and former associate curator of drawings at the Getty Museum. “Their relative ease and portability made pastels an especially desirable medium for traveling artists seeking to expand their portfolio with portraits.”

Pastelists were often very mobile, traveling far and wide in search of commissions. The artists and sitters represented in Eighteenth-Century Pastels hail from Austria, England, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and the Netherlands—a testament to the Pan-European nature of the pastel phenomenon.

 Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (French, 1749 - 1803), Head of a Young Woman, 1779.  Pastel on paper mounted on canvas, 54.6 × 44.5 cm, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 96.PC.327.

Eighteenth-Century Pastels highlights works from the Getty Museum collection by Jean-Étienne Liotard, John Russell, and Rosalba Carriera, among others. The exhibition also includes recently acquired works by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard and Pietro Antonio Rotari, as well as seldom-seen works by Cornelis Troost on long-term loan from the Mauritshuis in the Netherlands.

With standout pieces like Rotari’s Young Woman with a Fan and ​​Liotard’s Portrait of Maria Frederike van Reede-Athlone at Seven Years of Age, the pastels in this exhibition will entrance audiences with their rich hues and ethereal quality.

John Russell (English, 1745 - 1806), Portrait of George de Ligne Gregory (1740 - 1822), 1793.  Pastel on paper laid on canvas, 75.9 × 63.2 cm, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2001.77.

“Featuring works by many of the most talented pastel portraitists of the age, this exhibition is a sumptuous feast for the eyes,” says Ellie Bernick, graduate intern at the Getty Museum and co-curator of the exhibition. “Plus, the exhibition features several works by female pastelists like Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, Rosalba Carriera, and Mary Hoare, exemplifying the important role the medium played in bringing women artists into the profession.”

Eighteenth-Century Pastels is curated by Emily Beeny, curator of European paintings at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and former associate curator of drawings at the Getty Museum and Ellie Bernick, graduate intern at the Getty Museum, with the assistance of Julian Brooks, senior curator of drawings at the Getty Museum. 

 Rosalba Carriera (Italian, 1673 - 1757),  Sir James Gray, 2nd Bt., about 1744–1745. Pastel on paper, 56 × 45.8 cm, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2009.80.

 William Hoare (English, 1707 - 1792),  Henry Hoare, "The Magnificent", of Stourhead, about 1750–1760. Pastel on blue paper mounted on canvas, 61 × 45.7 cm, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2013.47.1.

 Attributed to Mary Hoare (English, 1744 - 1820), Lady Dungarvan, Countess of Ailesbury (née Susannah Hoare), about 1760. Pastel on blue paper mounted on canvas, 61 × 45.7 cm, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2013.47.2.

Pietro Antonio Rotari (Italian, 1707 - 1762), Young Woman with a Fan, early 1750s. Pastel on blue-green paper, mounted on canvas, 46 × 37 cm, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2019.111.

 Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (French, 1749 - 1803), Portrait of Madame Charles Mitoire with Her Children, 1783.   Pastel on three sheets of blue paper mounted on canvas, 98.5 × 79 cm, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2021.37.

Cornelis Troost (Dutch, 1696 - 1750), Captain Ulrich or Greed Deceived, 1738. Pastel and opaque watercolor on paper, mounted on canvas, 72.5 x 55.5 cm, Royal Picture  Gallery,Mauritshuis, The Hague, L.2002.63.1.

Cornelis Troost (Dutch, 1696 - 1750), Harlequin, Magician and Barber: The Deceived Rivals, 1738. Pastel and opaque watercolor on paper, 52 x 50 cm, Royal Picture  Gallery,Mauritshuis, The Hague, L.2002.63.2.