Monday

Dutch collector - group of portraits








A Dutch collector has sent in two nice groups of portraits for display. This group is of four ladies and one man.

As can be seen, from the additional images, two of these miniatures appear in the dictionary by Nathalie Lemoine-Bouchard.

The fine miniature of a lady with the elaborate headdress is identified as

Marie-Antoinette Robin (1745-1814) and the miniature is signed Tibaut 1784.

The striking portrait of a man in uniform is Louis Napoleon, the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. This is signed by F Moutier. Louis Napoleon was first King of the Netherlands from 1806-1810.

The lady in the red dress is signed Bertrand on the front and has been attributed to Vincent Bertrand. He was a well regarded French artist born in 1770 and a pupil of Regnault.


The lady with a cloak held by a strap over her shoulder in a Nattier style may be an early copy of a classical portrait, as she looks to be a Greek or Roman goddess. She is signed S Palliard. Little is known about this artist, but he seems to have been active around 1789-1791.

The artist and sitter in the fifth portrait are unknown. Thus any comments would be welcome.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Don,
I'm so happy to have found your site! Thanks so much for posting pictures of your vast collection of miniatures. I too collect portrait miniatures and I very much appreciate all your knowledge and information.
Sincerely,
Katherine Z.

ps - These portraits from the Dutch collector are what's considered decorative, yes?

Don Shelton said...

Hi Katherine,
I am glad you have found the site interesting. It has been quite a lot of fun to put together and has proved a good way to record research details.

My feeling is that a couple of this group are possibly period copies by good artists. However, I do not think that detracts from them, as multiple copies were often made.

My personal view of a decorative miniature is more the multiple copies painted in the late 19C and early 20C, which were mass produced in France and Germany, many with frames made from old piano key or made of filigre brass, and many with fake signatures.

However, even these are now 100 years old, so I guess they must now almost classify as antiques.

Kind regards

Anonymous said...

Hello DON
your site is wonderful

My wife Mary has collected several minatures but, one is said to be from a campaign to free blacks, circa 1800's. It has a white female holding a banner that reads liberty. Have you any idea if this is true?
Thank you
Scott

Don Shelton said...

Hi Scott,
Thank you for the kind comment.
Yes, there were some miniatures like that. If you click on my photo, you will get a link to my email address, if you would to send me any images for comment. Regards, Don

Anonymous said...

Hi Don,

Thank you for the wonderful blog!

I've been dipping into it periodically and was very surprised to find the portrait of Marie-Anne (not Antoinette) Robin. I have two miniatures of the lady and on of her husband (one unsigned, but I'm pretty sure by the same artist)!

Naturally I've ordered the Lemoine-Bouchard book as a result.

Very best regards,

John