A young girl believed to be Maria d'Oubril, later Baroness Maria von Budberg, in off-the-shoulders pleated white dress with short gauze sleeves fastened with three gold buttons, blue sash, her fair hair dressed in curls

Florentin de Craene was born in Tournay, Belgium, where he studied drawing and devloped a skill for lithography. His work won him various awards in the annual exhibitions and he, along with his brother, founded a lithography school in Tournay. In 1821 de Craene went to Paris where he studied painting with Baron Gros, and continued to practise the art of lithography. His reputation for the latter spread to Madrid, where he was invited to the court. He arrived in Spain in 1825, along with artists from other countries, and produced lithographies of the collection of King Ferdinand VII. De Craene remained at court for another fifteen years after the death of the king as court painter for Queen Isabella II.
For another miniature of the sitter by Emanuel Thomas Peter, see lot 103.