JEAN-DÉSIRÉ MUNERET, signed and dated 1814

Details
JEAN-DÉSIRÉ MUNERET, signed and dated 1814

The actress Mademoiselle Dupont, her centre-parted black hair dressed to long curls, wearing a red dress with multicolour-embroidered border and white lace-edged underslip with long muslin sleeves; oval -- 78 mm high, fine silver-gilt easel frame chased with spandrels depicting masks symbolising Comedy and Drama, and inscribed in blue enamel with the sitter's name and dates
Provenance
Bernard-Franck Collection, Paris
Ney Prince de la Moskowa Collection, Paris, sold Hôtel Drouot, 28 May 1929, lot 234
Literature
Leo R. Schidlof, La miniature en Europe, Graz 1964, vol. II, p. 598, 1034, illustr. vol. IV, pl.422 nr 861
Exhibited
Chefs-d'oeuvre de la miniature et de la gouache, Geneva, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, 23 June - 15 August 1956, nr 317
Meisterwerke der europäischen Miniaturmalerei von 1750 bis 1850, Vienna, Albertina, nr 290

Lot Essay

Charlotte (not Caroline as indicated on the frame) Rougeault de La Fosse (1791-1864), called Mademoiselle Dupont, was admitted in the Comédie Française in 1812, and became sociétaire in 1815. Critics described her as "belle brune, minaudière, un peu provocante, au demeurant assez commune". She retired in 1840, and after travels to Russia and Italy, she returned to France where she took part in the "high life" of Paris until her death.
Muneret was apparently very friendly with the theatrical world; the famous actor Baptiste was the godfather of his first daughter Antoinette, and her younger sister Caroline even had Talma as godfather.

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