Lady in a blue dress and pearl jewellery

This portrait of a lady wearing a necklace and earrings made from large pearls obviously originated in Samuel Cooper’s circle.¹ The very special hairstyle with extravagant ringlets arranged at the side of the head allows the picture to be dated to the first half of the 1660s. In this portrait, the artist showed the lady in front of a dramatic sky with the clouds breaking up somewhat on the right-hand side. The sitter has her head raised and gazes at the observer with a serious and distanced expression. 

Samuel Cooper was one of the greatest miniature painters of his time. He was virtually the only one who managed to show his models with natural and reserved yet simultaneously very lively expressions.² He worked with movement and flair, applying the paint so confidently that one would like to believe his portraits were created without any effort at all. It is thus precisely the method of painting that suggests that this is not a work by Cooper. The virtuoso interplay between broad areas of gouache and precise, fine lines is missing here. Cooper’s huge success with his works inspired other miniaturists to copy his style of painting. They included his brother Alexander, Thomas Flatman, Richard Gibson, Susan Penelope Rosse and David Desgranges.

B. P.