116 x 88,5 cm / 46 x 35 in
140 x 113 cm with the frame / 55 x 44 ½ in with the frame
oil on canvas
signed lower left
Two portraits by Kinson in which both women wear the same hat. The Marquise Amelot de Chaillou, painted in 1826 with her children, wears a dress very similar to the one in our painting. The neckline of the dress is entirely enriched with gems and the cuffs of the sleeves also end in a sort of cuff on which gems are sewn.
The second portrait dated 1824 of Madame Lestapis shows an identical hairstyle.
François Joseph Kinson (1770-1839) studied at the Bruges Academy under Bernard Fricx and the ornamentalist Louis Fréderik de Grave. He then moved to Brussels and specialised in portraiture, which earned him a solid reputation and led to his participation in the Paris Salon in 1799 with a portrait of a woman beside a harp. This monumental painting earned him numerous commissions from Parisian high society during the Consulate.
In 1810, he was appointed court painter to Jerome Bonaparte, King of Westphalia. He stayed in Cassel for three years and on his return to France he became painter to the Duke of Angouleme, son of the future Charles X.
The 1820s marked his peak. He participated in the Salons until 1838 and died in Bruges during a family trip.
