Further images
Executed in 1812, when Lizinka Aimée Zoé de Mirbel was only sixteen and a pupil of the celebrated miniaturist Jean-Baptiste Jacques Augustin, this highly finished chalk portrait demonstrates the young artist already in command of a refined and incisive style.
The sitter is shown with her hair dressed fashionably à la grecque, with small spiral curls framing the face. Her head is adorned with a wide silk or velvet bandeau set with a central oval jewel and edged with a delicate row of pearls, an Empire-period accessory inspired directly by antique diadems. Her gown, with its low, softly draped neckline and elaborately detailed trim, reflects the neoclassical elegance favoured under the First French Empire, which sought to emulate the purity and simplicity of ancient Roman dress. The partially exposed breast likewise reflects neoclassical conventions of female portraiture, evoking antique ideals of beauty and virtue. In this respect the drawing may be compared with Mirbel’s miniature of an unknown woman with bare breasts in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.
The inscription indicating that the portrait was drawn d’après nature (from life) while Mirbel was still a student suggests that the sitter likely belonged to the artist’s early professional milieu in Paris. The drawing thus represents a rare and compelling survival from Mirbel’s formative years in Augustin’s studio, while also providing a vivid document of First Empire fashion and portrait conventions.
Mirbel joined Augustin’s studio in 1811 and became his collaborator in 1814. She later established her own successful studio and succeeded him as court miniaturist to King Louis XVIII. Celebrated for the finesse of her execution, precision of drawing, and freshness of colouring, she became one of the most prominent miniature painters of her generation. Her reputation is reflected in François-Joseph Heim’s painting Charles X Distributing Awards to Artists at the Salon of 1824 (1827), in which she appears prominently among the leading artists of her time.
Mirbel portrayed numerous sovereigns and prominent figures, including Charles X, the Duke of Fitz-James, the Duke Decazes, Louise of Orléans, Queen of the Belgians, and the dancer Fanny Elssler. In addition to her miniatures she also worked in watercolour and received several medals during her career, including a first-class medal at the Salon. Works by the artist are today held in major collections including the Wallace Collection, London, and the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. She died in Paris on 31 August 1849 during the cholera epidemic.
