(British, 1754-1797)
Portrait of a Woman, wearing a lace [fichu] and gold satin gown with green bow, unsigned, oil on canvas, 30 x 25 in.; gilt wood and composition frame, with frameplate for "Gainsborough Dupont",. Notes: Gainsborough Dupont was the nephew and only assistant of Thomas Gainsborough. He also engraved many of his uncle’s works. This portrait displays similar brushwork to [William Thomas Lewis as Mercutio in 'Romeo and Juliet'] held by the National Portrait Gallery, London, and [Lady Mendip], Gainsborough's House.
A facsimile of a document verso signed by "George Fuller Walker" gives the authorship of this painting to Joseph Siffred Duplessis (French, 1725-1802). George Fuller Walker appears to be a researcher and author with interest in southern and American Colonial history 18th. There seems to be no connection to paintings or portraits specifically as a point of scholarship.. Provenance: Estate of Marjorie and Charles West
Condition
lined with paste and linen with some lifting and cleavage, crackle, cupping, retouch, wear to pigment layers exposing underlying red bole, craquelure in face; frame with losses and restoration