Lot Essay
The traditional identification of the sitter as Germaine de Staël née Necker cannot be substantiated. The composition of this portrait is close to the works of Joseph Grassi.
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A young lady formerly called Germaine de Staël, leaning on her right elbow on a stone plinth with her right hand raised to her face, in white dress with black sash and gold set gem brooch pinned at corsage, gold bracelets on each wrist, pink stole draped over her left shoulder, gold necklace with drop pearls, gold-bordered white turban in her curling powdered hair pinned with large gold and red stone clasp; stone vase with foliage, foliage and sky and cloud background
Details
SWISS SCHOOL
A young lady formerly called Germaine de Staël, leaning on her right elbow on a stone plinth with her right hand raised to her face, in white dress with black sash and gold set gem brooch pinned at corsage, gold bracelets on each wrist, pink stole draped over her left shoulder, gold necklace with drop pearls, gold-bordered white turban in her curling powdered hair pinned with large gold and red stone clasp; stone vase with foliage, foliage and sky and cloud background
enamel on gold
2 7/8 in. (74 mm.) diam., rectangular gilt-metal frame
A young lady formerly called Germaine de Staël, leaning on her right elbow on a stone plinth with her right hand raised to her face, in white dress with black sash and gold set gem brooch pinned at corsage, gold bracelets on each wrist, pink stole draped over her left shoulder, gold necklace with drop pearls, gold-bordered white turban in her curling powdered hair pinned with large gold and red stone clasp; stone vase with foliage, foliage and sky and cloud background
enamel on gold
2 7/8 in. (74 mm.) diam., rectangular gilt-metal frame
Provenance
Professor Dr. Emerich Ullmann (1861-1937), Vienna; Galerie Fischer, Lucerne, 31 August - 1 September 1937, lot 315.
Literature
L. Grünstein, Die Sammlung Professor Dr. Emerich Ullmann, Vienna, 1925, p. 62, illustrated in colour pl. 101 (as portrait of Madame de Staël by Soiron).
L. R. Schidlof, The Miniature in Europe, Graz, 1964, II, p. 767 (as 'not by Soiron').
L. R. Schidlof, The Miniature in Europe, Graz, 1964, II, p. 767 (as 'not by Soiron').
Exhibited
Vienna, Nationalbibliothek, Das gemalte Kleinporträt, 1931, no. 463 (as portrait of Madame de Staël by Soiron, lent by Professor Dr. Emerich Ullmann).
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.
Sale room notice
The sitter has now been identified as Urszula Lazarewicz, the owner of a famous fashion house in Warsaw and is based on the oil portrait by Joseph Grassi. Another miniature of this sitter by Wincenty Lessuer was exhibited in the Royal Castle, Warsaw in 1994 as part of the collection of the family Tarnoswskich (see H. Kamiska-Krassowska, Miniatury Wincentego Lesseura i Walerii Tarnowskiej z dawnej kolekcji Tarnowskich z Dzikowa w zbiorach Museum Polskiego w Rapperswilu, Warsaw, 1994, p. 136, illustrated in colour no. 81), now in the Polish Museum, Rapperswil, Switzerland.