Lot 151: LOUIS-AMI ARLAUD-JURINE (SWISS, 1751-1829)

Marie Anne Clements (1771-1811) giving her daughter Gertrude Pingel (1788-1849) a piano lesson; the mother standing and resting her right arm on the back of a wooden chair, in black lace-bordered white dress with blue sleeves, white fichu and blue turban in her powdered curling hair, her daughter seated, playing the piano with an open music score before her, in lace-bordered white dress with blue sash and blue ribbon at shoulder, her long hair falling to her shoulders
oval, 3 3/16 in. (82 mm.) high, gilt-metal frame

An ink inscription on the backing paper, signed 'M. Monod Dr.', identifies the sitters as 'M r s Clements Veuve Pingel, née Maria Anna de Coninck et sa fille Gertrude Pingel mariée elle même plus tard à William Caddey Good père de Jane Good (M m e Gustave Monod)'. Marie Anne de Coninck married in 1786 in Copenhagen the wholesaler William Werner Pingel who died in 1789, then, in 1791 in Copenhagen, the Irish captain John Clements (1745-1806) and in 1809 councillor Michael Leigh Smith (1777-1843). From her first marriage, she had a son, Paul Frederick Pingel (1789-1793) and a daughter, Gertrude. Gertrude, depicted here, married in 1807 William Caddey Good from Hull. Mother and daughter were also portrayed by Cornelius Høyer (see T. H. Colding, Cornelius Høyer, Copenhagen, 1961, nrs. 378-380).
This beautiful miniature was painted about 1798/1800 during Arlaud-Jurine's visit to England 1792-1802. In 1800, he re-used the theme of 'double-portrait at the pianoforte' for the miniature depicting Catherine and Frances Park, in the Bernard Falk Collection, now on display at Kenwood House (see D. Foskett, Miniatures: Dictionary and Guide, Woodbridge, 1987, pp. 336-337, pl. 95 B).

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