Caroline Mortier de Trévise
Louis-Léopold Boilly·c. 1810/1812
Historical Context
Boilly's portrait of Caroline Mortier de Trévise from around 1810-12 belongs to a pair of portraits he painted of sisters from the same aristocratic family — one of the informal series of aristocratic family portraits that supplemented his genre painting practice. Boilly's portraits are distinguished by the same precision and warmth that characterized his genre scenes, the sitter given individuality through specific facial observation rather than social typology. The Mortier de Trévise family portraits document the appearance of Napoleonic-era French aristocracy with the same documentary attention he brought to Parisian working-class and bourgeois subjects.
Technical Analysis
Boilly's oil on canvas displays his characteristic smooth, enamel-like finish with meticulous attention to the sitter's coiffure, costume, and jewelry, creating a portrait of refined elegance and technical virtuosity.
Provenance
Jacques-Victor, comte de la Béraudière [1808-1884], château de Bouzillé, near Angers, France; by inheritance to his son, comte de la Béraudière, château de Bouzillé; his widow, Marie-Thérèse, comtesse de la Béraudière, Paris; (her sale, American Art Association, New York, 11-13 December 1930, 1st day, no. 9); purchased by (H.E. Russell) for Chester Dale [1883-1962], New York; bequest 1963 to NGA.
