Portrait of a woman in a red scarf

A rectangular oil portrait by an unknown painter in the first half of 19th century. It depicts a young woman. Its colours are light and pastel, mostly white and grey. The touch that enlivens the composition is the red scarf. The portrayed lady is depicted in half length, leaning against a table placed in the bottom left corner. Her head is tilted towards her left shoulder, her gaze directed at the viewer. Her right hand supports the chin. The woman's face is oval, with a high forehead, a bit high cheekbones and a strong chin. Her eyebrows are black, narrow and regular, her brown eyes are large, almond shaped, her nose is long and straight, her vermillion lips are narrow, slightly smiling. Her complexion is pink, with strongly pink cheeks with delicate blue-grey shadows. Her black hair, styled a la giraffe, is adorned at the back with a brown and green bow. The woman is wearing a white empire gown with short puffed sleeves. Complexion of her cleavage and exposed arms is flesh-coloured with soft blue-grey shadows. A vermillion shawl is draped over her back and arms. The portrait background is bluish grey, slightly lightened at the bottom. The painting has a wide wooden gilt frame. On the chamfer, there is a narrow band of stylised Lesbian cymatium, with a strip of heavily stylised Ionic cymatium on the outer edge of the frame.

Joanna Kluz