wearing a blue laced bodice over a white chemise, a gauze shawl tied loosely around her neck, her hair powdered and adorned with a blue bow, indistinctly signed Mesas ft. and dated 1830 on the obverse, watercolour on ivory, gold frame, the reverse glazed to reveal brown plaited hair, oval, 42mm high

Josefina Mesas was a Spanish miniature painter and one of the very few women practising the art form in Spain. Active primarily in Cádiz between 1825 and 1835, she belonged to a generation of Spanish artists who adapted their style to compete with the influx of European painters arriving at the end of the 18th century, a moment that significantly elevated the quality and ambition of Spanish artistic production.

The present miniature is a striking example of her work, signed and dated 1830. Although painted in the early 19th century, the sitter's dress and hairstyle look back to the fashions famously popularised by Queen Marie Antoinette in the 1780s - specifically the simpler, informal style made iconic by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun's 1783 portrait of the Queen wearing a white muslin chemise à la reine. Despite the garment resembling an underdress and causing scandal at the time, the style became widely fashionable, often accessorised with a fichu or light scarf.

Mesas trained under Manuel Gutiérrez and was strongly influenced by leading French miniaturists such as Louis-Marie Sicardi, known for his portraits of Marie Antoinette. Like many artists of her time, she developed her skill through copying the works of these celebrated French masters.

Ivory Declaration Submission Reference: KWCJLKGC