A Fine Portrait Miniature of a Fernanda Grifeo, Princess of Partanna, facing right in white frill edged short-sleeved black velvet dress and embroidered yellow cashmere shawl, wearing a broad-brimmed claret-coloured hat adorned with black ostrich and multi-coloured paradise-bird feathers, column and stormy sky background with seascape to the left

Fernanda Grifeo, Princess of Partanna, was the daughter of Bendetto Grifeo e del Bosco, 8th Prince of Partanna and his wife Lucia Migliacco e Borgia. After the death of her father in 1812, her mother married in 1814 Ferdinand IV, King of Naples (see lot 95) who styled his second wife Duchess of Floridia.
The Swiss miniaturist Comte went to Italy in 1812 and worked for the court of the Kingdom of Naples. Two other miniatures by his hand are illustrated in the exhibition catalogue L'âge d'or du petit portrait, Bordeaux, Geneva and Paris, 1995-1996, pp. 229-230.