ALEXANDER ROSLIN (1718-1793)

Portrait of a lady in a pink dress (1755-1765)

Oil on canvas (64 x 53)

Private collection

This portrait belongs to the first years of Roslin in France; this means the second half of the 1750s. We could say that this portrait symbolises the 18th century, particularly the period between 1750 and 1770, when ladies used to apply abundant make-up on their faces and red cheeks were all the rage. Wealthy people used rouge made of crushed red beetles, called cochineals, on their cheeks. Others dabbed berry juice on their cheeks. The lady portrayed here was obviously very wealthy, as her pearls and luxurious silk dress indicate. The fabric used, known as moiré, a French word meaning “watered silk”, was particularly expensive, since it involved a laborious process to give the silk its wavy pattern that replicated the ripples on the water´s surface.

I shall quote in full the entry made in the catalogue of the sale of the Marianne L. Dreesmann-van der Spek collection, which was auctioned by Sotheby’s on the 12th July 2021 (1), because it sums up perfectly my thoughts about Roslin:

“Portraitist of the Enlightenment Society and of its sovereigns, this artist with a European destiny was recognized in his time by his contemporary François Boucher, distinguished by King Gustav III of Sweden, called to the court of Catherine II of Russia and invited to Warsaw and Vienna. Everywhere, the master was celebrated for his magnificent style of portraiture. Mastering to perfection the play of lights on fabrics, translating with incomparable skill the delicacy of lace, as we can see here, Roslin has effectively proven himself by his virtuosity in transcribing the appearance of fabrics in painting. His œuvre shows us today that he also knew how to encompass the soul of his models and this, as well in his first Parisian portraits, all imbued with a mix of clear and fresh tones, as with the canvases of the maturity whose melancholy cannot leave indifferent. Remarkable witness of his time, Alexander Roslin brings us back to an elegant era and society that died out, like him, with the French Revolution in 1793.”

This beautiful portrait proves how unfair Diderot´s spiteful and baseless comment about Roslin was, whom he considered a mediocre painter who excelled in reproducing fabrics; in fact, it says more about Diderot than Roslin: “Roslin est aujourd´hui un aussi bon brodeur que Carle Vanloo fut autrefois un grand teinturier” = “Roslin is today as fine an embroiderer as Carle van Loo used to be a great dyer” (2)

Who was this lady? Nobody knows, but frankly, who cares? Thanks to the incomparable talent of Roslin, she lives forever on a small piece of canvas, and her rather sad, sweet little face will charm art lovers forever.

Note: The picture was provided by Sotheby´s; however, as the original image lacked sharpness, I have improved it using AI.

NOTES

1 = I cannot help but point out that the portrait´s value was estimated at only 20-30.000 euros, and it did not even reach the minimum, being sold for 17.640 euros. Alexander Roslin | Portrait of a lady, half length, her blond hair

2 = Diderot: “Le Salon de 1765” (Oxford University Press, 1957, p. 126)