Loui-Ami Arlaud-Jurine

Lady in Blue Gown with White Shawl

At the end of the 1780s, the French revolution came to Arlaud-Jurine' s hometown and he was forced to leave with his friend (and miniature painter) Ferrière in 1792 to try his luck in London ¹ . This small portrait of a lady from the Tansey Collection, however, was created in front of this change of location which also marked a change of style in the painter' s work. In Geneva, Arlaud-Jurine preferred a light gamut of colours in which he combined distinctly graded grey shades with bright pastel shades; moreover, he did not try to conceal his guidance of the brush. Later, Arlaud-Jurine abandoned the pleasant spontaneity and softness which had dominated his earlier works and followed the classicist rules by using clear structures, rich colours and a method which entailed the meticulous treatment of detail.

B.P.

¹ For interesting information on the artist's life see Bodmer 1901, pp. 81-88, and Genoud 1999, pp. 15-46.