Lady in a White Empire Dress in front of a Woodland Landscape

This lady had her portrait painted in a white chemise à la grècque and a contrasting red stole in front of a woodland landscape. The chosen background emphasises the natural attitude and presents the sitter as relaxed and unaffected. The early Empire fashion in the first decade of the 19th century came as a contrast to the pre-revolutionary rococo fashion with its outdated stiffness and artificiality. It followed the ancient ideal of a natural shape liberated from all constraints. The sitter is accordingly wearing a short-sleeved dress made of almost transparent muslin with a high waistline. ¹ Her hair has been loosely pinned up, leaving some curls to fall forward around her face. Her head is covered with a delicate veil, which forms part of the interplay of natural and erotic elements. The semitransparent dress makes the lady’s right breast visible, to which the observer’s eye is also directed by a fine string of pearls wound around her arm.
While the miniatures signed “Henri Albert Adam” are known to have been created by our artist, the attribution is uncertain with those signed only “Adam”, “Adams”, “Hy. Adam”, or “Hy. Adams”. Schidlof attributed the works signed “Adam” to Henri Albert's younger brother Isaac Adam (1768–1841),² but some of them resemble miniatures by Henri Albert so closely that they could just as easily have been painted by him. They have in common the slightly stylised and “improved” face with an emphasis on fine features, tender pink flesh parts, and heavy upper eyelids, along with the detailed and differentiated clothing.³
J. S. O.