"Portrait of a Woman" by Baron François-Pascal-Simon Gérard

Portrait of a Woman (1805)
Copyright Held by Musée des Beaux Arts, Nancy, France

This is interesting because the sitter's dress appears to be unbuttoned for two buttons and missing a third button. Is this to imply pregnancy? Sexiness? It seems quite odd. The hair pin is also rather odd and looks lethal as well! The satin dress has puffy sleeves and is topped by a fur tippet or "palatine" as they are often called. The effect is very lopsided with the angle of the buttons, the huge curl on the right, and the big hair pin. The huge pearl on the hair pin is no doubt real, and the bizarre pin designed to draw attention to this huge pearl.