French School, 18th century
Portrait of a Lady in a Lace Cap with Pink Ribbons
Oil on canvas

Unsigned, a Paris colorman's stamp on the lining. 20 x 16 inches (51 x 41 cm), the frame 24 x 19 inches (61 x 48 cm). Gilt frame with palmette corners. Relined and stable, small scattered losses.

The same pink appears in four places. It is in the broad ribbon of the lace cap, in the rose pinned at her breast, in both cheeks and in the silk of the gown, and nowhere is it stronger than on the ribbon.

She turns three quarters toward the viewer inside a painted oval, dark grey-green behind her and brownish red in the corners outside it. Her powdered hair is dressed high and rolled at the sides under a tall cap of pleated lace, its leafy sprigs picked out one by one in white. She wears a strand of pearls at the throat and a deep lace frill at the neckline, with a pink rose and two buds pinned where it opens.