Portrait of a Woman

Description The unknown woman in this portrait wears a turban decorated with a flower, accessories common to other female sitters portrayed by Hall. The frame is set with diamonds. A student of medicine at Uppsala University, to his father's horror, Peter Adolf Hall became an artist, not a doctor. From May 1766 he worked in Paris and was elected a member of the academy. He portrayed several members of the French Royal Family and was appointed "Peintre de Roi" (Painter to the Court). After supporting the French Revolution he was forced into exile in 1791 and died in Belgium a few years later. Along with Jean Honoré Fragonard he introduced a looser style of miniature painting to France. Blue watered silk on reverse.

Provenance William T. or Henry Walters, before 1931 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by William T. or, more likely, Henry Walters