Dr. Lucien Boissonnas, in a letter dated April 1995, writes 'A lovely oil sketch over a graphite drawing, good carnations, convincing recession chin-neck-ear areas. Töpffer is little known as a portraitist - but this would rather be a memoranda study for the painter's personal use and would be consulted as a prompter for figures placed in larger compositions (see for instance the girl in a white dress seen from behind in the Exhibition picture [lot 77].'

To be included in Dr. Lucien Boissonnas' forthcoming catalogue raisonné on Töpffer