Masterfully portrait of a young woman as Greek goddess of nature Daphne with laurel wreath on the head, the painting signed by the author with her first name„ Elise“ and dated (1)843. Due to our research we came to conclusion, that this painting is early work by Austrian female portrait artist Elisabeth (Elise) Modell (1820 - Vienna- 1865), who signed her early works with only first name. On our additional image see another Modell early work, dated 1839, also 4 years earlier as our, which signed also only with first name Elise and depicts two sisters, and the face of one of them completely coincides with our image (see our additional photo). As it is known, Elise had elder sister, and most likely our portrait shows Elise or her sister. Here down is the short biography of the author Elise Modell from Austrian biographical lexicon. More complete biography of the artist is presented under following on-line link from wikisource :

https://de.m.wikisource.org/wiki/BLKÖ:Modell,_Elisabeth

Model Elisabeth, painter. * Vienna, September 4, 1820; † Vienna, 10 October 1865. She studied by H. Zimmermann und F. Schilcher;In 1846 she travelled through Germany, in 1855 she travelled through the region and Tyrol to Milan and Venice and returned to Vienna in 1856, in 1861/1862 she was in Switzerland, in 1864 she went blind. She relresanted with her portraits and genre paintings on the Viennese exhibitions. in addition to many Madonna paintings and copies from the Belvedere Gallery, he created numerous portraits and genre images. A large part of her works can be found on the castle of Gorky belonging to Count Julius Ledochowski and a few paintings by Elise are in the Historical Museum of City Vienna.

Literature: all in German: “General Artist´s Lexicon " by Thieme/Becker, Leipzig, 1999; Prof. H.Fuchs "Die Österreichische Maler des 19 und 20 Jahrhunderts", Vienna, 1975; Benezit (in French); catalogue of Historical Museum of City Vienna, 1888. on-line wikisource.

Inscription: signed „Elise“ and dated 1843, lower right.

Technique: oil on canvas. Original period gilt frame.

Measurements: unframed w 21 7/8“ x h 27" (55,5 x 68,5 cm), framed 28 1/3" x 33 7/8" (72 x 86 cm)

Condition: very good