Female Portraits from Long Ago. Graphic Artworks in the Collection of the National Museum

Abstract

Among the multitude of (prevalently male) portraits from the graphic art collections housed by the National Museum of Transylvanian History, there is a small number of nineteenth‑century female portraits, most of which belong to the artistic world of those times. These creations often depict figures from social and aristocratic circles or heroines brought to the public’s attention by special events. The precise artistic investigation of the portraits accomplished in romantic or Biedermeier style is completed by the presence of some compositional portraits in the collections, which bring a note of delicacy and romanticism in an austere environment.