A young Gentleman and young Lady; both profile to the left, he, in blue coat, white waistcoat and frilled cravat, powdered hair en queue and she, in white dress with fichu, pink sash and black bordered pink surcoat, wearing a plumed hat with elaborate ribbons

Having worked in his native town of Geneva in the 1780s, Boudon travelled to Southern France where he is recorded at Nîmes in 1786. He worked in Bordeaux in 1790 and probably embarked from there for America. His first recorded work painted in the New World, dated Kingston, Jamaica in June 1792, was sold in these rooms on 3 March 1993, lot 113. Due to the signature on the present pair of miniatures, one can assume that Boudon spent the year 1793 in Jamaica before arriving at Charleston, South Carolina in 1794. For further information on this itinerant artist, see N. E. Richards, 'A Most Perfect Resemblance at Moderate Prices: The Miniatures of David Boudon', Winterhur Portfolio, 9, 1974, pp. 77-101.