Léger

Girl in White Dress with Red Silk Belt

Probably working in Paris, the miniaturist Léger presented this unknown girl directly from the front, thus enhancing her childlike and fresh nature, still innocent of any coquettishness. The immediate naturalness is matched by the grey background and the simple dress with the silk belt in pure red. The girl' s only adornment is the abundance of her curling hair, the lustre of which the artist rendered in such a manner that her curls seem to be flowing downwards like strands of fluid silk.Nothing is known about Léger' s life. His few established works were nearly all produced in 1797 ¹ . It may therefore be assumed that the artist worked in the field of miniature painting only during a very short period. Maybe he had abandoned his artistic work at the end of the 1790s or he had died. In view of his skills and the touching spontaneity in capturing his sitters in their portraits, this fact can only be regretted.

B.P.

¹ Dated 1797 for example are two portraits of ladies (Christie's Geneva, November 17, 1992, no. 453, and private possession in Paris, respectively) as well as a portrait miniature of Pierre Pascal Marguerite (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen).