Lot Essay
The signature of this attractive portrait reads: "J. Isabey. 1835 retouché en 1843". It is interesting to see how Isabey has "updated" the lady's hairdress, from an Apollo-knot fashionable in the mid-1830s to the simpler curls with flat bun of the 1840s. This allowed the sitter to have her portrait up-to-date whilst maintaining her youthful beauty unchanged.