Lot 113: FRANÇOIS FERRIÈRE (SWISS, 1752-1837)

A young lady, in white dress with frilled border fichu, white bandeau in her long powdered curling hair
signed and dated 'F. Ferriere p.^t 1797.' (mid-left)
oval, 2 11/16 in. (68 mm.) high, silver-gilt frame with radiant engine-turned foiled blue glass reverse

The collection of a European Lady; Christie's, London, 21 April 1998, lot 130.

François Ferrière was born in Geneva and worked as a miniaturist, painter and restorer. He studied at the College of Art and trained in the studio of Joseph Marie Vien (1760-1809), later becoming an active member of the Société des Arts where he exhibited his work in 1789. Three years later he went to England and began a successful career in London painting English and Scottish members of society. The present lot is an excellent example of his English period. A miniature of General John Ramsay (1768-1845) signed and dated 1794, is in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (see exhibition catalogue Portrait Miniatures from the National Galleries of Scotland, 2004, no. 53, p. 56, illustrated in colour opp. p. 56). Ferrière found himself in the company of other portrait painters and miniaturists, often from Switzerland or France, living temporarily in the capital. Whilst he had established a good reputation in London and Edinburgh, all the time maintaining relations with the Société des Arts, Geneva, and exhibiting work there in 1798, hard times forced him to sell his house at the end of the 19th century. Leaving his wife and son in London, Ferrière went to find work in Russia and enjoyed so much success there that he was able to afford to bring his family to join him after only eighteen months. In St. Petersburg he painted members of the Imperial Family, including Tsarina Alexandra Fyodorovna (see lot 178), and Prince Alexander Borissovitch Kourakine (1752-1818), illustrated in the exhibition catalogue 100 Ans de Miniatures Suisses 1780-1880, Musée historique de Lausanne 1999-2000, p. 32, fig. 35. In 1822 he returned to Geneva where he remained until his death in 1837.

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