Velvet & Lace

There’s a captivating softness to this portrait of a young lady with rosebud lips and hazel brown eyes wearing an elegant off-the-shoulder black velvet dress. A red drape in the background adds a pop of colour to contrast with the delicate white mantilla covering her spiralling curls.

In fine condition the portrait resides in a gold-plated frame with an embossed surround, the reverse with a brooch clasp fitting. Soldering marks are visible where the back plate has been affixed.

Born in Geneva in 1780 and having come to England as a child, Alfred Edward Chalon entered the Royal Academy Schools at the age of seventeen. He had a successful career painting both watercolours and miniatures and enjoyed royal patronage. His 1837 portrait of Queen Victoria was engraved and distributed widely to mark her Coronation. He died unmarried in 1860 and was buried alongside his older brother at Highgate Cemetery.

Ivory Exemption Ref.: 7UFDN2K9