Lot Essay
The sitter was from a family of painters. He studied under his father, Jean-Baptiste van Loo, and painted portraits and allegorical scenes. The present miniature is after Labille-Guiard's oil on canvas portrait of 1785 which is now in the collection of the Palace of Versailles (see A. M. Passez, Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, Paris, 1973, pp. 148-159, no. 58, pl. XLVI).