Portrait of Jean Gabriel and Anne-Charlotte-Adélaide Eynard with Madame Charrière

In Jean-Gabriel Eynard's numerous portraits with his wife, he seems to have directed her to assume a habitual pose. Here, as usual, she sits with her elbow propped on a table, her gaze directed at her husband. Closely framed and intimate, the portrait's formal elegance derives from its tight composition of interlocking triangles, varied patterns, and a severe background. Oddly, Eynard seems not to have made solo portraits of his wife as he did of himself and of Jean Rion. Most of his portraiture was devoted to groupings of sitters, which he took pains to arrange informally.