Young Lady with a Hat Decorated with Flowers
Alois von Anreiter
Mounted onto a brooch, this picture of a young woman shows many of the characteristics of Anreiter’s portraits of women, including the great perfection of the rendering of the delicate, powdery skin tones, and the detailed and delicately painted composition of the hat with tulle, feathers, and flower decorations. The miniature also features the kind of background he preferred for his portraits of women, namely a cloudy sky in hues of blue, brown, and pink,1 such as his role model, Moritz Michael Daffinger,2 also liked to use.
Yet this portrait stands out from many of Anreiter’s other works, in which it is always possible to sense some specific demands made by the sitters hailing from the Viennese aristocratic upper class underlying the similarities in the depiction and the artful “outfitting” of the models. In this picture, the face of the unassuming young lady is the centre of attention, and the oval format with the associated limited display of background enhance this effect.
Anreiter’s technical perfection in the reproduction of the headgear, which seems to be light as a feather, sitting playfully on the curls fixed on either side of the middle parting, and his nuanced rendering of skin tones with gentle transitions are subordinate to the overall intended impression of the portrait. They serve to emphasise the gracefulness of the sitter, a young girl from the high society on her way to becoming a young lady.
J. S. O.