English school; beginning of the 19th century.

English school; early nineteenth century.
"Portrait of a lady".
Oil on canvas.
Measurements: 74.5 x 62.5 cm; 97 x 87 cm (frame).
The present canvas continues the stylistic and formal characteristics of the English school. It is a 19th century portrait very much in the English aristocratic taste of the 17th century, with the young woman of beautiful features arranged in an elegant position. On a formal level, it is worth mentioning how the figure is strongly illuminated, especially on the face. The brushstroke used by the artist is changeable, much more precise, practically invisible, on the face, hair and bust of the woman, but looser on the dress and background.
During this period the panorama of European portraiture is varied and broad, with numerous influences and largely determined by the taste of both the clientele and the painter himself. However, this century saw the birth of a new concept of portraiture, which would evolve throughout the century and unify all the national schools: the desire to capture the personality of the human being and his character, beyond his external reality and his social rank, in his effigy. During the previous century, portraiture had become consolidated among the upper classes, and was no longer reserved only for the court. For this reason, the formulas of the genre would relax and move away from the ostentatious and symbolic official representations typical of the Baroque apparatus.