Mademoiselle Adeline of the Comédie Italienne, facing left in décolleté white dress with green panelled bodice with lacing, roses and foliage at left upper arm, long curling powdered hair, poissarde-shaped gold earrings; together with a young Gentleman, facing right in open white shirt, pink-lined blue cloak, holding a leather bound book inscribed OEDIP A COLON; pillar background

Details

BÔBE (fl. 1787/1789)
Mademoiselle Adeline of the Comédie Italienne, facing left in décolleté white dress with green panelled bodice with lacing, roses and foliage at left upper arm, long curling powdered hair, poissarde-shaped gold earrings; together with a young Gentleman, facing right in open white shirt, pink-lined blue cloak, holding a leather bound book inscribed OEDIP A COLON; pillar background
signed and dated 'Bôbe. 1789.' (lower left) and signed 'Conty' (lower right), respectively
2¼ in. (57 mm.) diam. each, brass frame and silver-gilt mount, respectively (2)

Provenance

for the miniature by Bôbe:
E. M. Bancel; (+) Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 6 May 1893, lot 49 (410 Gold Francs to Mr Bernard).
Mrs J. Brasseur, Lille; (+) Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1 June 1928, lot 50, illustrated opp. p. 20 (6,000 Francs to Léon M. Lowenstein).
Léon M. Lowenstein; (+) Galerie Jean Charpentier, Paris, 17 December 1935, lot 112, illustrated opp. p. 38 (sold 850 Francs).

Lot Essay

For more information on Bôbe, see the exhibition catalogue L'âge d'or du petit portrait, Bordeaux, Geneva and Paris, 1995-1997, pp. 32-33.
Marie-Madeleine Rombocoli-Riggieri, called Adeline (Venice 1760-1841 Versailles), started as a ballet dancer in the Comédie Italienne and made her début as an actress in 1776. Received as a full member of the Comédie Italienne in 1779, she became one of the most celebrated actresses in late 18th Century France. The younger sister of the still more famous Mademoiselle Colombe, she retired from stage in 1799.

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