Hawthornes Antiques

Description

A striking portrait of an early 18th century girl executed in oils on board.

The subject looks towards us while feeding a grey parrot. She wears a blue dress with a blue shawl. and above her curled hair a bonnet with a central jewel. In the background through a columned doorway can be seen a domed temple.

The parrot is often used in paintings to both symbolise wealth and purity with the flowers denoting youth.

The whole is mounted within an impressively sized and weighty gilt frame. To the verso can be found a frame makers label but no name. This painting has not been out of its frame for multiple decades, the label, tape and more importantly the hand forged nails securing it within the frame confirm this.

It is our belief this painting was framed in the early Victorian period. Without an artist signature and not wanting to remove it from the frame for any other possible clues we are finding it difficult to date. With this in mind our declared date is 19th century with a good probability of being far earlier and later re-framed.