Hyacinthe Lemaire

HYACINTHE LEMAIRE (1808-1879).
"Portrait of a lady", 1818.
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Signed and dated in the left margin.
Measurements: 81 x 65 cm; 101 x 83 cm (frame).
Female portrait of remarkable technical refinement and aesthetic sensitivity, characteristic of the European portraitist tradition of the early nineteenth century. It is a work that is inscribed within the late neoclassicism, with reminiscences of the Biedermeier style, as much by the compositional sobriety as by the attention to detail and the intimate approach.
The central figure, a young woman with a serene face and restrained gesture, is presented in a slightly sketched natural environment, where a clear sky and soft mountains on the horizon provide a peaceful atmosphere and frame the figure with discreet harmony. The light, soft and diffused, models the face with delicacy, highlighting the rosy cheeks, the closed lips and the gaze directed towards the viewer with a mixture of sweetness and reserve. The velvety texture of the skin and the detailed treatment of the hairstyle-with defined curls and a golden ribbon adorning the hair-reinforce the idealized elegance of the sitter.
The dress combines elements of empire fashion with regional references. The black bodice with golden ribbons, the puffed sleeves of transparent gauze and the ochre mantle or shawl decorated with embroidery, which adds a warm and ornate note to the ensemble, stand out. The meticulousness with which the texture of the fabrics and the light reflections in the folds indicate a high degree of technical virtuosity, characteristic of bourgeois and aristocratic portraiture of the period.
The triangular composition, with the hands intertwined in the center of the painting, provides visual stability and concentrates the viewer's attention on the model's face and gesture. The position of the hands, with a slight crossing of the fingers and a ring adorning one of them, adds a symbolic component that could allude to the civil status, emotional commitment or social belonging of the sitter.
This work stands out not only for its formal skill, but also for its ability to evoke the feminine ideal of the post-Napoleonic period: reserved, elegant and restrained, inscribed in a canon of harmonious and serene beauty. In short, the portrait represents a paradigmatic example of the pictorial sensibility of the first third of the 19th century, where individual representation also becomes a mirror of the social and cultural values of an enlightened and refined elite.
It is probably the only known painting by this artist, born in 1795, known above all as a portraitist of miniatures. It bears on the back of the frame an old sales label "L..Re école de Ro...n°122. (Nathalie Lemoine-Bouchard, miniature painters active in France, 1650-1850, 2008 les éditions de l'amateur).