FRANOIS DUMONT (1751-1831)
FRANOIS DUMONT (1751-1831)

A young lady called Mademoiselle Duchesnois, full face in the guise of Hebe, in loose white robe revealing her left breast, long purple scarf wound around her bodice and floating behind her, gold armlets and crown of pink roses in her curling dark hair; holding a gold tazza in her right hand and a gold ewer in her left hand; cloud background

Details
FRANOIS DUMONT (1751-1831)
A young lady called Mademoiselle Duchesnois, full face in the guise of Hebe, in loose white robe revealing her left breast, long purple scarf wound around her bodice and floating behind her, gold armlets and crown of pink roses in her curling dark hair; holding a gold tazza in her right hand and a gold ewer in her left hand; cloud background
signed and dated 'Dumont f. l'an 6.' (lower left)
31/8 in. (79 mm.) diam., ormolu frame with inner beaded border and laurel and berry outer surround
Provenance
The Collection of F. J.; sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 22 November 1967, lot 48 (as portrait of the actress Mademoiselle Duchesnois).

Lot Essay

The entries in Dumont's fee book for the year 6 of the French Republic (September 1797 to September 1798) appear to be incomplete. The price of the most expensive portraits of this year, costing 10 Louis d'or (the tariff for a bust-length portrait without hands), cannot correspond to the present portrait. Thus it is plausible that the identification of the sitter as the celebrated French actress Mademoiselle Duchesnois (1777-1835) may be right although her name does not appear in Dumont' fee book.
This impressive miniature will be be included in B. Hofstetter's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of François Dumont's works.

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