Woman
Eugène Smits, a Belgian artist famous for painting stiff, formal portraits of royalty like King Leopold II, clearly loved letting loose in his sketchbook. Here, he captures a young woman in a dark headscarf with scratchy, energetic lines that feel almost like a candid snapshot. Instead of a polished queen, we get a real, breathing person with a quiet, direct gaze that draws you in. This raw, unpolished style is a perfect example of Realism, showing how 19th-century artists began finding beauty in everyday people rather than just gods and kings.