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Chevalier Féréol de Bonnemaison (French, circa 1770–1827). Young Woman Overtaken by a Storm, 1799. Oil on canvas, 39 3/8 x 31 5/8 in. (100.0 x 80.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Louis B. Thomas, 71.138.1
Taking shelter underneath a sturdy oak, an elegantly, if scantily clad young woman—perhaps separated from her party of nature-seekers—tearfully cowers as powerful winds whip at her gauzy attire. In this picture, exhibited at the Salon of 1799, Bonnemaison pays homage to the era's prevailing, classically inspired tastes: the young woman wears the high-waisted, muslin robe à l'antique and delicate cothurnes, or sandals, that became all the rage for fashionable French women in the 1790s. At the same time, the threatening storm—evidence of nature's force—hints at a nascent Romanticism and its embrace of the sublime.
Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum