Portrait of a Young Woman as a Vestal Virgin

In the pictureA woman with gray powdered hair wears a thin veil crossed with white stripes and raises her left hand to hold its edge. Her robe is white satin edged with gold at the collar and cuffs, and a thick gold tassel hangs from the end of the white sash around her waist. In her right hand she holds a bouquet of pink roses, blue cornflowers and white flowers, and beneath it, on an altar with gilded carved decoration, lie logs with red embers still glowing. The front of the altar bears the signature "Drouais 1767." Her face turns toward the viewer with a faint smile.

BackgroundA Vestal virgin was a priestess in ancient Rome who kept the fire in the temple of Vesta, goddess of the hearth, from ever going out. The embers on the altar point to that sacred fire. In 18th-century France it was fashionable to portray young women as such priestesses to suggest their modesty, and Drouais left several of these "costume portraits." The sitter's identity is not recorded. It measures 80×63.8cm. Unlike his portrait of Madame Sophie painted five years earlier, which fills the canvas with floral ornament, this painting conveys its theme with only the white robe and veil, the bouquet and the embers. It was given by Mrs. Haupt in 1965 from the collection of Mrs. James B. Haggin.

Puzzle tipThere are many white pieces, but the veil shows through with stripes while the robe has a smooth sheen, so texture separates them. Fit the face and raised hand, the bouquet on the left and the gold tassel pieces at the bottom first, then anchor the corner with the gilded altar and red embers at lower left. Fill the dark brown background starting from the pieces that catch the edge of the veil. The gold tassel has a coarse vertical grain, so it is easy to tell from the white robe pieces. 100 pieces is about right.