Lady with Her Dog

In May 1820, the young woman in a violet dress had her portrait painted with her beloved pet by Benjamin Delacour, a miniaturist hardly known today. Her piebald Cavalier King Charles Spaniel has settled down cozily in her lap. Both the lady and the dog are looking at the viewer, the original recipient of the miniature. The viewer was probably familiar with the surroundings shown in the painting which lend the portrait an additional personal note. The lady is sitting in front of a terrace parapet with a view of a pond. A church and a fortress tower are visible in the background. It cannot be ruled out that the tall hollyhock stalk shown on the right edge of the picture also had a symbolic meaning. However, this meaning remains hidden to the uninitiated contemporary viewer. The hollyhock stalk would have been painted with yellow blossoms and green leaves. Due to exposure to sunlight, however, the yellow colour has lost its luminosity over the years. Today, the only colour that still shows is the blue which would have been mixed with yellow to make green.¹
Benjamin Delacour painted this portrait as a young artist only two years after completing his training at the Royal Academy in London. The balanced and ingenious composition, the carefully observed pictorial elements and, not least, the penetrating expression of the person portrayed already show the artist’s impressive talent.
B. P.