Due to the identical manner and costume this masterfully portrait miniature was created  ca. in 1805-1810 , it signed with monogram JH (legated). Its style, the time of creation and type of the monogram show all criteria to be attributed to the hand of famous Bavarian portrait and miniature painter Joseph Heigel (1780 Munich - 1837 Paris). As it's known from his biography , he painted miniatures of Bavarian royal houses , including king Max I Joseph (collection of Herzog von Hessen), portrait of three children of Max I Joseph and his first wife princess of Hessen-Darmstadt Auguste Wilhelmine (collection of art gallery B.Wilnitsky, Vienna). Due to this facts we tried to find , who can be both sitters on our miniature. Our research led us to the important monography by E.Lemberger "Meisterminiaturen aus fünf Jahrhunderten" (Leipzig,1911) where we found portrait miniature painted in 1802-1803 by French miniaturist J. Desvernois, depicting the second wife of Max I Joseph, Friedericke Caroline of Baden, the Queen of Bavaria with her son Maximillian Joseph (1800-1803) (see addtional photos). Physiognomic comparison of women's faces on both miniatures (our and by Lemberger), as well as other well-known portraits of same person gave us confidence that our miniature depicts Friedericke Caroline of Baden, the Queen of Bavaria and one of her six daughters. As it is well known , she had not only the son Maximilian (1800- 1803), but also six daughters : twins : Elizabeth Louise (1801-1873) and Amalia Augusta (1801-1877), Maria Anna (1805-1877) , Sophie Friederike ( 1805 - 1877) , Ludowika Wilhelmina ( 1808-1892 ) and Maximiliana Josepha Carolina ( 1810-1821 ). Due to the age of the depicting daughter (2-3 years old), dating of the miniature (ca.1805-1810) and the fact, that two elder sisters twins could not depicted separately, we concluded that the artist depicted with the mother one of her daughters Maria Anna or Sophie Friederike.

Full history about Friedericke Caroline of Baden see in wikipedia under following link:

http://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karoline_von_Baden

Literature: in German: Ernst Lemberger , monography "Meisterminiaturen aus fünf Jahrhunderten", Leipzig, 1911; artist lexicon by Thieme/Becker, Leipzig,1999; in French: N.Lemoine-Bouchard "Les peintres en miniature, actifs en France 1650-1850", Paris,2008.

Inscription: signed with monogram JH(legated) lower right.

Technique: gouache on ivory. original period frame .

Measurements: unframed w 3 7/8" x h 4 2/3" (10 x 11,5 cm), framed w 5 1/2" x h 6 1/8" (14 x 15,5 cm).

Condition: in very good condition. PLEASE NOTE: white spots on photos are only reflections of convex glass.