Lady in a blue dress and a pink cloak

Benjamin Arlaud worked as a miniature painter in Germany and England and left a very extensive oeuvre. Unlike his more famous brother, Jacques-Antoine, who also worked as a miniature painter, little is known about Benjamin’s life. He was born in Geneva around 1670, the son of a watchmaker,¹ and learned his artistic skills in his hometown. Only the outline of his later career can be reconstructed. He left his home at an unknown date to work at the court of Johann Wilhelm, Elector of the Palatinate. Two portraits of the ruler and his wife, dated 1706, provide evidence that Arlaud was in Düsseldorf that year. Schidlof suggests that he later worked in France, and possibly also in Amsterdam, before emigrating to England in 1709.² Most of Arlaud’s surviving works are from his period in England, where he was a successful miniaturist and was even appointed court painter. The date of his death is not known. A portrait of George Wade dated 1731 is his last known work. In 1721 Benjamin’s brother Jacques-Antoine painted a portrait of Benjamin’s wife, Jeanne Marie.³

This portrait of the lady in a blue dress dates from Arlaud’s time in England. It shows the young woman in a resting pose with a relaxed expression. Her head is turned very slightly away from the observer, while she gives him a piercing look. Cool superciliousness was a popular attitude in English Baroque portrait painting. It was propagated by artists such as Peter Lely and Godfrey Kneller and used by numerous portrait painters for their sitters.

B. P.