Young Woman Reading

About this work

A young woman sits in profile, head bent over an open book, her dark hair piled high. Charpentier wasn’t just a sculptor—he pressed metal dies into paper to make the lines pop like tiny ridges. The raised ink catches light, giving her hair and dress a soft, almost fabric-like texture. This trick, called embossing, was rare for prints at the time. Look up *impasto* next—it’s another way artists add thickness to paint.