Portrait of Mlle Rachel

Portrait of Mlle Rachel is an oil painting on millboard by English artist William Etty, painted during the 1840s and currently in the York Art Gallery. It shows the tragic actress Élisa Rachel Félix, better known as Mademoiselle Rachel, at the time one of the most acclaimed actresses in France. The subject is not shown looking at the artist, but glancing anxiously out of the picture with tears in her eyes. The work was probably painted during one of Rachel's tours of London in the 1840s. It appears unfinished, suggesting that it was painted in a single sitting and Rachel did not return to give Etty the opportunity to complete it.

William Etty was born in 1787, the son of a York baker and miller. He began as an apprentice printer in Hull. On completing his seven-year apprenticeship he moved at the age of 18 to London. Over the following years he became a significant history painter, specialising in nude figures in historical, literary and mythological settings. He was elected a full Royal Academician in 1828, at that time the most prestigious honour available to an artist. Although almost exclusively known for his nude history paintings, he also occasionally painted portraits, despite portraiture at the time being considered a lower art form than history painting.

Portrait of Mlle Rachel depicts the French actress Élisa Rachel Félix, commonly known as Mademoiselle Rachel. Rachel was born in 1821 to poor Jewish parents, and in 1838 made her debut in Paris in Pierre Corneille's Horace, a performance described as causing "a revolution in public taste". She rapidly became one of the most respected actresses in France, and "the ornament of every fashionable drawing-room of Paris". Although contracted to the Comédie-Française, she was important enough to the company that she was able to negotiate four months of leave each year, allowing her to perform abroad with other companies. In May 1841 Rachel visited London, giving a series of extremely well regarded performances.

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