Mademoiselle Ferrand meditiert über Newton

The woman portrayed was a member of a very wealthy and erudite Parisian family. Here, she is in her boudoir wearing a dressing gown and bonnet, sitting at her dressing table, upon which there are no make-up accessories, but instead, an open folio volume. It can be inferred from the title that it is a work by Newton that she is reading in French, and she seems to be discussing it with the person opposite her. The painting is not only one of the artist¿s most outstanding masterpieces; it is also evidence of the superior education of women during the Enlightenment.