Portrait of a young woman in a blue dress, France, late 18th century Oil on canvas painting; measurements: Width 78, height 85 cm , depth 8 cm canvas only cm 54 , height cm 64 Price: confidential negotiation Object accompanied by our certificate of authenticity This refined female portrait, created in France in the last decades of the eighteenth century, represents a young woman elegantly dressed according to the fashion of the time, characterized by silk dresses in vivid tones, tight bodices and necklines embellished with lace. The fullness of the hairstyle, supported by padding and ribbons, reflects the style then in vogue among the Parisian elite, in years in which elegance became a social as well as aesthetic statement. The figure is rendered with a luminous and soft modeling, typical of pre-revolutionary French portraiture. The care with which the reflections of the blue fabric are treated, the velvety rendering of the complexion and the sober intensity of the expression reveal the hand of an artist perfectly integrated into the pictorial culture of the time. These elements bring the work closer to the language of Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, one of the most important French portrait painters of the eighteenth century, or to her direct circle: students, collaborators or painters who followed her stylistic model. Labille-Guiard, a central figure in artistic Paris of the Ancien Régime, was among the few women to be admitted to the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1783. Celebrated for the psychological finesse of her portraits and for her ability to represent fabrics, lace and precious surfaces, she also distinguished herself for her commitment to female artistic education. Her workshop and her circle attracted numerous students, especially young portrait painters who found in her not only a stylistic model, but also a guiding figure in an environment predominantly dominated by men. The present portrait, with its balance between aristocratic elegance and naturalness, perfectly reflects the cultural climate of late eighteenth-century Paris: a refined and worldly world, suspended on the threshold of revolutionary transformations. The intimate atmosphere, the soft lighting with the dark background and the executive quality place this work in the wake of the great tradition of French portraiture. The contemporary frame in finely carved and gilded wood further enhances the quality of the painting, confirming its decorativeness and pleasantness.

Period: Second half of the 18th century

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