Lot 107: A lady, possibly the artist Marguerite Gérard (1761-1837), in pale green dress and blue sash, wearing blue headdress and white falling veil on her dark curling hair, holding a paint brush and palette before a canvas

FRANÇOIS DUMONT (FRENCH, 1751-1831)
A lady, possibly the artist Marguerite Gérard (1761-1837), in pale green dress and blue sash, wearing blue headdress and white falling veil on her dark curling hair, holding a paint brush and palette before a canvas
signed and dated 'Dumont f. 1804' (lower left)
on ivory
2¾ in. (70 mm.) diam., stamped gilt-metal frame

It has been suggested that the present miniature depicts the French Romantic painter, Marguerite Gérard (1761-1837) who was portrayed by Dumont holding her palette and a brush in 1793 (see L. R. Schidlof, The miniature in Europe, Graz, 1964, I, p. 223). Another miniature of a lady artist is in the Wallace Collection, London (see G. Reynolds, Wallace Collection. Catalogue of Miniatures, London, 1980, illustrated p. 165). This miniature was, at the time of publication, thought to represent Madame Vigée-Lebrun, but the sitter's identification has subsequently been changed to Marguerite Gérard. A drawing of Marguerite Gérard by her brother-in-law, Jean Honoré Fragonard, circa 1778, is in the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie, Besançon (inventory no. D.2945).