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.
This impressive miniature will be be included in B. Hofstetter's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of François Dumont's works.