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Perronneau's pastels show less technical virtuosity than Maurice Quentin de La Tour's, perhaps quite deliberately. Something of a preparation remains in the finished portrait, giving a gritty, unflattering, yet forceful character to his work. He is less concerned with simulating the texture of skin or hair, for example, than with lively drawing in pastel; the strokes remain, and add their vibrancy to Perronneau's sharp observation. His sitters are seldom smiling or exuding a charming vitality: if anything, they often seem rather heavy and disagreeable - but very convincing.
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