An Unknown Lady in a Hat
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Oval oil painting in portrait orientation depicting the head and shoulders of an unknown woman wearing a white hat with a blue and white ribbon; a dark pink dress with gauze ruffles around the neckline and a blue and white ribbon at the front of the neckline; black net sleeves; and a black cloak. The woman's body faces the left and she turns to the viewer. She has pale pink poppies in her hair, styled up with loose powdered locks. Her large silk-covered hat has an upturned brim with a ribbon on it. She wears a 3 string pearl bracelet on her wrist. She holds the cloak that comes round behind her in her left hand.
This painting shows similarities to the portraits of Marianne Loir. The sitter has not been identified. However, the fashionable hat suggests it was an aristocratic lady who followed the trends set by Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, and her circle in the early 1780s.
The signed late 18th-century frame is not original to the portrait. The painting and the frame were probably put together in the late 19th century to make a more saleable piece.
This painting was previously attributed to Marianne Loir (1715-1769) but the fashion of the clothes and hair post dates her death. There are certain facial resemblances between this painting and portraits of Madame du Barry (1743-1793), former mistress of Louis XV, and the Duchesse de Polignac (1749-1793), confidante of Marie Antoinette. It does not, however, closely resemble Elisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun's portrait of the Duchesse painted in 1783 at Waddesdon (acc. no. 2154), although the style of hat is similar. In the late 1770s, French noblewomen, led by Marie-Antoinette, sought to cast off the restrictive fashions of tight dresses and large wigs and embrace a more simple style of clothes, associated with nature and innocence, including such wide-brimmed hats that suggest an out-door life in the sun.
The painting is reminiscent of portraits by Vigée-LeBrun and Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, notably in the treatment of the hair and the style of the hat.
Phillippa Plock, 2011
Dimensions (mm) / weight (mg)
803 x 645
Signature & date
not signed or dated
Marks
T. Dumont
Maker's mark
on verso
Labels
[Chenue, London, label]
Printed label
on verso
Fountain bedroom, panel right facing bed
Label
on verso, bottom of stretcher
69
Label
on verso, small circle sticker
Fountain bedroom, panel right facing bed
Label
on verso, bottom of frame
Provenance
- Acquired by Alice de Rothschild (b.1847, d.1922); inherited by her great-nephew James de Rothschild (b.1878, d.1957); inherited by his wife Dorothy de Rothschild (b.1895, d.1988); given to Waddesdon (National Trust) in 1971.
Collection
- Waddesdon (National Trust)
- Gift of Dorothy de Rothschild, 1971
Bibliography
- Geoffrey de Bellaigue, Anthony Blunt; Furniture Clocks and Gilt Bronzes: The James A de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor; 2 vols; Fribourg; Office du Livre; 1974; pp. 652-653, cat. no. 149, ill.; on frame
Related files
- Entry from (Bellaigue, 1974):, http://api.waddesdon.org.uk/docs/Furniture/879.pdf