Reading between the cracks
Every picture tells a story, but in the case of Théodore Chassériau’s large portrait of Comtesse de Latour-Maubourg, it was condition as much as content that revealed the artist’s state of mind at the time.
The 4ft 4in by 3ft 1in (1.32m x 94cm) picture was the highlight of Sotheby’s first Paris sale of Old…