From the mid-1870s, Gabriel von Max created a large number of expressive portraits of young girls and women, which enjoyed great popularity. The publishing house Hanfstaengel also contributed to the success of this type of genre by releasing an album with reproductions of the "representation of beautiful ideal female heads". The portraits address different emotional states and moods: the young women look out of the picture seductively, melancholically or sentimentally, and serve as a projection surface for the viewer's own emotional states such as longing, hope, sadness or joy (cf. Caroline Sternberg, Die Mädchenbilder, in: Gabriel von Max. Malerstar, Darwinist, Spiritist, ex. cat. Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich 2010, pp. 143-149) What is characteristic of these portraits is the slightly absent-minded look that goes past the viewer trying to avoid making contact. With an unusually delicate turn of the head and a direct gaze from lowered lids, underlined by the transparency of the skin shimmering like mother-of-pearl and the flowing blonde hair, a gentle seduction is artfully staged in this portrait, completed by the outstanding technical virtuosity of the painting style. [KT]