FRANCISZEK SMIADECKI | Portrait of an elegant lady, half-length, in a blue dress

Sir Philip Tyrwwhitt, Bt., Stainfield, Lincolnshire;

E.H. Lawrence (his collection label on the reverse);

Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby Mak van Waay, 10 May 1971, lot 260 (as Pieter van Slingelandt), where acquired.

H.-J. Raupp (ed.), Niederländische Malerei des. 17. Jahrhunderts der SØR Rusche-Sammlung, vol. 5, Stilleben und Tierstücke, Münster/Hamburg/London 2004, pp. 310-13, cat. no. 73, reproduced in colour;

W. Pijbes, M. Aarts, M.J. Bok et al, At Home in the Golden Age, exh. cat., Zwolle 2008, p. 57, cat. no. 38, reproduced in colour.

Little is known of the life of Franciszek Smiadecki. Seemingly of Polish or Russian descent, he may have trained in Stockholm with Alexander Cooper, the brother of the English miniaturist Samuel Cooper. Around 1660 he travelled to England. Though many of his works are unsigned, a handful of highly-accomplished miniatures, such as the present painting, are signed with the monogram F.S., initials that have been historically ascribed to Smiadecki.

This work was at one time ascribed to the Leiden fijnschilder Pieter Cornelisz. van Slingelandt, whose finely-rendered works were similarly celebrated for their brilliance and distinguished detail. The sitter's costume, which can be dated to about 1660, was popular in both England and the Netherlands.