Lady in a White Dress and a Lace Bonnet with Blue Ribbons

This unknown lady is wearing an elaborately pleated muslin dress as was fashionable at the time together with a bonnet made from an equally delicate, diaphanous fabric. The bonnet is decorated with blue ribbons whose colour is complemented by the belt. The headdress is arranged in a heart shape around her face, which was intended to heighten the loveliness of the sitter’s features. Today’s viewer may find it somewhat outlandish as it makes the pretty face appear hemmed in and overly decorated.

The portrait has been attributed to Charles Antoine Claude Berny d’Ouville, whose works are very similar to this one in their modelling of the skin tones and rendering of a dreamy expression. It stems from a creative period during which Berny refused to show his work at the Paris Salon. Having regularly submitted miniatures for exhibition between 1802 and 1814, he then took a break for almost 20 years and did not take part in an art exhibition again until 1833.

B. P.