She wears a red coral tiara, an Empire gown, and is most assuredly a young lady in the time of Napoleon I (Napoleon Bonaparte), into the fashion of her day as she transitions from child to woman. Quite typical of her age, the red coral was thought to have protective properties, particularly for girls' virtue. Often a gift of parents to their daughters, iconographic for the spilled blood at the beheading of Medusa, the coral being solidified. Red coral in its natural state does have a look of veins of blood. But I digress. Housed in her original frame, the budding beauty looks away from the artist and viewer, giving us a sense of shyness, self-consciousness or perhaps a pout.
Very good to excellent condition for age and type. Painted in gouache on very thin natural panel, typical of the genre. Original slightly convex cover glass is undamaged and has protected her painting for over 200 years, but you can see a very small rub there at about the 8 o'clock position, which is from the cover glass. Lovely frame, we can anticipate from that alone that she was the child of wealth or social standing. Yet we do not know who she was/is, and we do not have an artist's signature to help us search for her and know her fate. Frame is excellent, has the old ring to hang.
