Martin Drölling (Oberbergheim, nr. Colmar 1752-1817 Paris)

This charming picture has been identified as the celebrated opera singer Jeanne Charlotte Saint-Aubin. She is painted in the guise of Michel the Savoyard, a role she created in Nicolas Dalaryac's opera Les Deux Petits Savoyards, which premiered in Paris in January 1789. The daughter of Frederic Schroeder, a Dutch theatre director, she married the tenor Augustin d'Herbez, called Saint-Aubin in 1782 and continued to pursue a hugely successful career in France.