Dutch School, circa 1700

Possibly Jean de Julienne (1686–1766), Paris, by 1756;

Possibly his estate sale, Paris, Remy & Julliot, 30 March 1767, lot 163;

Possibly where acquired by Pierre Remy for 2400 livres;

Possibly Marie-Anne-Catherine Doublet, Paris;

Possibly her sale ("Madame la Présidente de Bandeville"), Paris, P. Remy & P. Hayot de Longpré, 3 December 1787, lot 23;

Possibly where acquired by Joseph-Alexandre Lebrun, Paris, for 1800 livres;

Possibly whom sold, Paris, Lebrun, 9 December 1788, lot 86;

Possibly where acquired by his brother, Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Lebrun, Paris;

Alexandre-Louis Hersant Destouches (1731-1793), Paris;

His sale, Paris, A.J. LeBrun & Ph. Fr. Jueliot, 21 March 1794, lot 27 (as Dou);

Where acquired by Joseph-Alexandre LeBrun for 600 francs;

Anonymous sale, Paris, Galliera, 6 June 1975, lot 11 (as Dou);

Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's New York, 26 January 2006, lot 250 (as Dutch School, circa 1700);

Where acquired by Aso O. Tavitian.

J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent, Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters, vol. I, London 1829, p. 24, cat. no. 71, (as Dou);

W. Martin, Het leven in de werken van Gerrit Dou, Leiden 1901, p. 213, cat. no. 198;

C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, vol. I, London 1907, p. 458, cat. no. 368 (as Dou).

In rendering this charming portrait of a young lady, the artist quite successfully emulates the refined style and fijnschilder technique of Gerrit Dou (1613-1675). Indeed, the painting bears his signature and passed as an autograph work by the seventeenth-century master for much of the eighteenth century. In certain passages, the handling of the paint suggests that the artist likely studied–and perhaps directly referenced–one of Dou’s seventeenth-century portraits. 

In the present painting, the flickering white highlights that illuminate the girl’s complexion and the translucent, smoothly applied wet-on-wet passages recall Dou’s Portrait of a Young Woman in the National Gallery, London (inv. no. NG986). Likewise, the delicate hatching of her arm and hand imitates Dou's technical approach. The sitter’s costume combines seventeenth and early-eighteenth century styles: the slashed sleeve was fashionable in the mid-1660s, however her white shawl and lace bonnet are later in style.