Continental School (18th century), Portrait of a Young Girl

oil on canvas (lined), half-length, initialed "A. C. B. M." above the date 1787 in upper right, presented in a later ebonized frame.
Stretcher size 21 3/4 x 17 1/4 in.; Frame dimensions 29 x 24 1/2 in.
This portrait is a study in symbolism and presents an excellent opportunity for a contemporary viewer to "read" an 18th century portrait. Although the identity of the sitter is unknown, it is clear that she was a woman of wealth and status. Her fashionable brocade gown would have been costly. Her modesty is preserved through the use of a sheer fichu with lace trim. In addition to the fine fabrics, her wealth is on display with two gold chains circling her neck, gold earrings glinting from her earlobes and a matching gold pendant suspended from black ribbon tied round her neck. The possibility of this portrait being in commemoration of a marriage is indicated through the sprig of pink roses held in her raised hand. With one rosebud and one blooming flower, the painter clearly intends the viewer to understand that this young woman is in love and a thing of beauty, poised between youth and adulthood.

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Cut and laid on later canvas with later stretchers; some loss to pigment near sitter's bodice and raised arm; allover stable craquelure; obscuring varnish under UV light; some minor chipping and rubbing to frames.