Circle of Jean-Étienne Liotard, Portrait of a Lady, Oil on Canvas, 18th Century, Framed

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French Maestro – Circle of Jean-Étienne Liotard (Geneva, Switzerland, 1702 – 1789)
Title: Portrait of a lady
Medium: Oil on … Read more French Maestro – Circle of Jean-Étienne Liotard (Geneva, Switzerland, 1702 – 1789)
Title: Portrait of a lady
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: without frame 73 x 58 cm – with frame 87.8 x 73.7 x 4.5 cm
Not signed

A fair-skinned gentlewoman sits proudly at her desk, at the tip of a chair, the back of which can barely be glimpsed on the right of the painting. In her hands she holds a group of pages from a book that is open on the flap of the bureau, as if she had been intent on research. Something to which, given the slight creasing of the sheets, she appears not to be a stranger. An equally massive volume peeks out from the left edge of the artwork.
The artist decided to depict the noblewoman in profile, only the rosy face turned towards the viewer: an excuse to deploy his pictorial skills in the rendering of the dress, particularly the left sleeve, so charmingly adorned with wrinkles, frills, fringes and laces. The bow is repeated on the neck and on the bodice, which outlines a generous décolleté.
The choice of colours also aims to highlight the clothes of the sitter. The blue, pink and white, illuminated by the light coming from the left, stand out against the neutral background of an interior, of which the silhouettes of two pilasters can be made out.
The artwork can be attributed to the hand of a master from the circle of Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702-1789), a Swiss painter who specialised in the execution of portraits, preferring the pastel technique. In this case, the painting is an oil on canvas, although the tones used remind the pastel technique. See less