FRANÇOIS DUMONT (FRENCH, 1751-1831)

The present large-format miniature by Dumont can be compared to a similar work, signed and dated 1793, depicting a seated lady with a paint brush in her hand, in the Wallace Collection, London (see S. Duffy and C. Vogtherr, Miniatures in the Wallace Collection, London, 2010, no. 26, illustrated in colour p. 80, erroneously identified as Marguerite Gérard. Dumont depicted female musicians as well as artists. One example, Madame de Saint-Just d'Aucourt en Sapho with a lute in a woodland landscape, and a signed portrait of Demoiselles Flamand with a harp and a harpischord, are in the Louvre (see P. Jean-Richard, Inventaire des Miniatures sur ivoire conservées au Cabinet des Dessins, Musée du Louvre et Musée d'Orsay, Paris, 1994, nos. 190 and 200).