Classic female portrait painting

painter: Charles Napier Kennedy

Those of us who paid any attention in history class can probably recount a few key details and players of the French Revolution – there was Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI (AKA Louis the Last) and their posse at Versailles who were eating too much cake; the revolutionaries who kicked things off by storm

A masterfully detailed Neoclassical oil painting in the style of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Focus on the upper body of an aristocratic woman, her face elegantly out of frame. She is adorned in a luminous silver satin gown with complex pleating, rich folds, and soft, layered glazing that catches the light with a subtle, ethereal sheen.

I believe Henry Raeburn to be one of the finest portrait artists of the 18th century. Formidable colouring and brushwork, allied to a wonderful use of chiaroscuro. Best of all she feels real, no period mannerisms, just a pretty young woman you might see in your local cafe.

Sir Thomas Lawrence

Dante Gabriel Rossetti's influential painting 'Lady Lilith' is currently on view in the exhibition "The Rossettis" at Tate Britain.