“La Femme au Fauteuil Doré” — Alfred Stevens | Art Postcard

A red-haired woman reclines against a blue-upholstered gilt chair in a golden-yellow satin gown, a painted fan half-open in her hand, and a small vase of pink roses within reach. Alfred Stevens builds the composition from rich chiaroscuro — the dark background pushes every fold of golden satin forward — and gives her a coquettish, theatrical pose, as if she just glanced up from the book she was pretending to read.

“L'Éventail” (c. 1873–75) shows Stevens working in the Empire-revival mode fashionable among his Parisian sitters — the most opulent and staged of the portraits in this set, built around the sitter's direct, knowing glance at the viewer.

• Postcard, 10×15 cm
• 350 g/m² cardstock