Attributed to Jeanne Elisabeth Chaudet

Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 27 May 2021, lot 57;

Where acquired by the present owner.

Jeanne Elisabeth Chaudet (née Gabiou) specialised in portraits, many of which were owned by notable patrons, including the Empress Joséphine Bonaparte (1763–1814) herself. Chaudet studied with Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755–1842) and was distantly related to the painter sisters Marie-Elisabeth, Marie-Denise and Marie-Victoire Lemoine (1754–1820).

Chaudet clearly had a particular interest and affinity for painting children, at a time when – following the publication of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's writings – society saw a breakthrough in attitudes towards childhood and ideas about the development of a child’s individual character. While many of Chaudet's depictions of children integrate these figures into hybrid genre scenes, sometimes with moralistic overtones, the present canvas would appear unequivocally to be a portrait, and probably a private commission.

The girl's delicate features and the attention to the effect of light on her fine chemise recall two signed paintings by Chaudet – one of Two sisters embracing, sold at Christie's, New York, 1 May 2019, lot 291;¹ and the other, a portrait dated 1814, comparable also in its half-length format and quiet expression, which sold at Tajan, Paris, 22 March 2018, lot 84. The motif of the wicker basket, realised here in the lower right corner, likewise appears in a larger, signed and dated painting of 1817 in the Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris (acc. no. 377).

¹ Oil on canvas, 52.7 x 46.3 cm.; https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6198805