Lady in Black Dress with Yellow and White Turban

Troivaux often painted his sitter before an interior or a landscape. This was more time-consuming than painting a neutral background but provided information about the sitter’s taste and environment. The lady in this portrait wears a fashionable dress, cone curls and a hair decoration interwoven with gold. A porcelain neo-rococo vase in the background holds a rose to symbolise love.

Most 19th century miniaturists chose larger formats for showing their sitters in half-length portraits before a detailed background. Troivaux also mastered this task in the smallest format. The lady’s melancholy and absent-minded facial expression is found in several portraits by Troivaux, including his self-portrait from 1828.¹

B. P.