GYULA BENCZÚR, WOMAN READING IN A FOREST (1875)

We can all surely identify with the woman – probably Karolina Max, the wife of the painter – totally absorbed in her book in a shady spot. What looks normal to us was an unconventional image of a woman in the 19th century. Her casual attitude represents a modern, intellectual woman, a type rarely seen in earlier paintings. » © Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest and Thames & Hudson