Live Auction 7800Centuries of Style: Silver, European Ceramics, Portrait Miniatures and Gold Boxes
GEORGE ENGLEHEART (BRITISH, 1750/53-1829)
Lot 342

GEORGE ENGLEHEART (BRITISH, 1750/53-1829)

Closed17 November 2009

Price Realised

GBP 4,000

Considering selling a similar item?

Discover its value with a complimentary estimate from our specialists.

More Information

How to sell

GEORGE ENGLEHEART (BRITISH, 1750/53-1829)
Catharina Schindlerin, in black lace-bordered cloak, white fichu tied with a large pink bow at corsage, her hands in a fur muff, white lace cap with pink bow tied under her chin, upswept powdered hair
on ivory
oval, 2 5/16 in. (59 mm.) high, gilt-metal frame with plaited hair reverse

Acquired by Edward Grosvenor Paine in May 1964 from Wasserman.
Edward Grosvenor Paine (1911-1989) Collection, no. 289; Christie's, London, 28 October 1980, lot 85.
Christie's, London, 7 December 2004, lot 213 (in a different frame).

Specialist note

Catharina Schindlerin was born in Germany and came to England in 1775, settling in London. She sang at the King's Theatre in Haydn's opera Armida. In her diary, Fanny Burney describes her saying 'she was young, and by many thought handsome; her figure was elegant and graceful on the stage, and she was a good actress. Her voice was a mere thread, for the weakness of which there was neither taste nor knowledge to compensate, and off the stage she was silly, insipid and coquettish'.
This miniature is a copy after the oil painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, popularised by the mezzotint by John Raphael Smith of 1777. Williamson and Engleheart (loc. cit.) record that the miniature was paid for on 8 January 1781.