Presumed Habsburg Portrait of a Lady with a Jeweled Tiara, Oil on Canvas, Early 19th Century, Gilt Frame

A young woman faces us in the high-waisted dress of the Empire years, a jeweled tiara set in her dark curls and a red shawl draped over her pale blue gown. The lace-edged collar frames her face against a deep olive ground, and the painter has given all his attention to the jewels, the complexion and the quiet self-possession of the sitter.

Oil on canvas, 9 x 6 inches (23 x 15 cm), framed 12 x 9 inches (30 x 23 cm). Unsigned, Austrian School, early nineteenth century, in a period gilt frame.

The work belongs to the small-format court portraits painted in the Austrian lands in the first decades of the nineteenth century, made to be kept close, in a study or a private cabinet, rather than displayed in state. The lace is built up in raised white over a fine grey outline, and the tiara in a few dozen touches of pure white on a pink ground, the work of a hand used to painting small.

The gilt frame is water gilded over red bole, which shows through along the ridges and the whole left upright.

A few small losses in the background and the fine age craquelure normal to an early nineteenth century painting. The canvas has never been relined, and remains on its original keyed stretcher with all eight keys in place.

A few small losses in the background and the fine age craquelure normal to an early nineteenth century painting. The painting comes from a suite of seven small portraits of the same format and the same hand, presumed to represent members of the Habsburg family. The canvas has never been relined, and remains on its original keyed stretcher with all eight keys in place.