This rather unassuming portrait of the four-year-old Johann Jakob von Wagner is one of the rare inscribed works by Johann Jakob Müller. The artist came from Waldkirch near St. Gallen and specialised in small-format profile portraits. He drew them using black pencils of varying shades and hardness on parchment covered with white chalk. He left the primer visible at the edge of the picture; it creates an optical frame for the drawing. He coloured the face very discretely using red watercolour. To finish off, he scratched bright dots of light into the chalk ground using a sharp blade. Müller was a master of his art. His hatching is energetic; under magnification, it creates a fascinating tangle of lines and gives the drawing great vitality.1
Despite the information on the reverse of the miniature, the sitter cannot be identified with absolute certainty.2 The first name and family name are both so common in Switzerland that there are several possible candidates.