Samuel Shelley

Lady in White Gown

A young lady in a low-cut white gown is seated in front of a fair wall which is decorated by green leaves in the foreground on the left and shows a window offering a view of a wood in the background on the right. Apparently the sitter has crossed her legs; her folded arms resting on her right thigh. Her hands, which are painted masterly, give a natural impression, and her dark brown long curly hair contrasts with her fair gown. Shelley usually used a yellow-greenish gamut of colours to reproduce the sitter' s incarnate parts. To saturate the colours he applied a coat of binder on the darker parts of the picture. Shelley often signed on the reverse of the miniature and also added his address.

J.S.O.