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Description: | Oval miniature in watercolour in ivory in an oval gilt metal locket, enclosed in a brown/red leather case lined with red velvet. It is based on a painting by the famous French female artist, Elizabeth Vigee Le Brun, who visited the Hamiltons at Naples and painted her there, and it records Emma in one of the roles of her celebrated 'attitudes', as a Bacchante - a follower of Bacchus god of wine - with vine leaves in her loosened hair. She is shown from behind looking back over her bare left shoulder, her body swathed round in a classical style white robe. The signature 'Dun' appears in the woodland background to the left of her head. The reverse of the frame is glazed, bearing the initials 'EH', and contains a lock of woven human hair. While this item has, for over a century, usually been attributed to the Dublin miniaturist John Dunn (fl.1801-41) the signature and other comparisons more probably suggest it is by Nicolas-Francois Dun (1764-1832), a French/ Flemish artist working mainly in Naples from at least as early as around 1790. Although the head and pose relate to Lebrun's two oil portraits of Emma as a Bacchante (1790-91), it may also be at least in part from life, as the inclusion of what is presumably Emma's hair suggests.
AUDIT: Requires marking
AUDIT: Case needs part numbering
caption: Lady Emma Hamilton | Publisher: | "http://collections.rmg.co.uk/" | Rights holder: | "Royal Museums Greenwich" | Subjects: | Hamilton Emma miniatures (medals) | Source: | Royal Museums Greenwich | Identifier: | http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections... | Go to resource |
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