Masterful portrait (pastel on parchment ! ) depicts with a high probability the Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria, futured Marie Antoinette, Queen of France . This painting was created in 18 century, the subject, style and composition of it are very close to the works of famous French-Swiss pastel and miniature painter Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702 Geneva - 1789 Geneva) and matches absolutely all stylistic criteria of his works . For physiognomic similarity of our pastel with few other portraits of the sitter comparе for example: the watercolour on ivory by Antonio Bencini , depicted Maria Antonia and her sister Maria Carolina; or pastel on parchment by Liotard depicted Maria Antonia as child (situated in Schönbrunn palace, Vienna).

Liotard was an artist of great versatility, and though his fame depends largely on his graceful and delicate pastel drawings, of which La Liseuse, the Chocolate Girl, and La Belle Lyonnaise at the Dresden Gallery are delightful examples, he achieved distinction by his enamels, copperplate engravings and glass painting. He also wrote a Treatise on the Art of Painting, and was an expert collector of paintings by the old masters. Many of the masterpieces he had acquired were sold by him at high prices on his second visit to England. The museums of Amsterdam, Bern and Geneva are particularly rich in examples of his paintings and pastel drawings. A picture of a Turk seated is at the Victoria and Albert Museum, while the British Museum owns two of his drawings. The Louvre has, besides twenty-two drawings, a portrait of General Hrault and a portrait of the artist is to be found at the Sala di Pittori, in the Uffizi Gallery , Florence. While his son also married a dutch girl, the Rijksmuseum inherited an important collection of his drawings and paintings.

Inscription: unsigned

Technique: pastel on parchment, original period wood-crafted gold-plated frame

Measurements: image w 10 3/4" x h 15" (27 x 38 cm); matted and framed w 17 1/4" x h 24 3/4" (44 x 63 cm)

Condition: in very good condition