Painting Portrait Of A Courtesan Woman Headdress Princess Louis XVI Followed By Riout

Portrait de dame de qualité (courtisane), late 18th - early 19th century, Louis XVI style - oil on canvas - 61 x 50 cm - entourage/atelier de Rioult

Bust portrait of an elegant lady with ribbons and roses, large light hat, ivory ruffled bodice. Smiling face, direct gaze, unified warm brown background that highlights the figure. Oil on canvas,

Beautiful image of worldly sociability at the Louis XVI/Directoire hinge: smoothed complexions, fresh vermilion lips, draperies raised with off-white and pinkish impastos. The tight layout, the isolation of the head on a brown background and the frankness of the modeling all point to Parisian workshops active around 1795-1810. The softness of the face, the floral accessory and the light-colored dress all contribute to an ideal of grace that is still very XVIIIth century, but already ordered by a more neoclassical sensibility. Taken as a whole, the work brings us closer to studio productions intended for bourgeois and aristocratic clientele at the turn of the century.

Affinities with Parisian portraitists of the 1790-1820 period: circles of Greuze, Labille-Guiard, Mosnier, Ducreux , and, through the sobriety of the background, the typology of the face and the smooth treatment of the flesh, with the entourage/workshop of Louis Edouard Rioult at the start of his career

French school, late 18th - early 19th (circa 1795-1810).

Oil on canvas. Antique lining; antique varnish.

61 x 50 cm (canvas on view).

Antique notations on reverse, various 19th-century auction labels,

Good condition, some antique repaints visible, edges with minor wear.