Attributed to Johann Friedrich August Tischbein, 
German 1750-1812- 
Portrait of a lady,...

Attributed to Johann Friedrich August Tischbein, 
German 1750-1812- 

Portrait of a lady, traditionally identified as Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, half-length, wearing a pearl necklace and pearls in her hair; 

oil on canvas, 58.5 x 46 cm. 

Note: 
Johann Friedrich August Tischbein was a member of the prominent Tischbein family of artists, and received training from his father, Johann Valentin Tischbein (1715-1768), and uncle, Johann Heinrich Tischbein (1722-1789). He later travelled through France and Italy, where he encountered Johann Georg Wille (1715-1808) and Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825). Tischbein enjoyed success as a portraitist to the European aristocracy, and was appointed Court Painter to Friedrich Karl August, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont, in 1780, before working for Leopold III Frederick Franz, Duke of Anhalt-Dessau, and completing a number of commissions for the Russian aristocracy during three years spent in St Petersburg from 1806. 

The present work is characteristic of Tischbein's dreamy portraits of elegant young women, often set against a loosely-painted backdrop which suggests a hazy, windswept landscape, as in, for example, the artist's portrait of a young lady which sold at Lempertz, Cologne, on 16 May 2018, lot 1119 (€14,880). These same features are also evident in the portrait by Tischbein in the National Gallery of Prague [no.O 2348]. 

A watercolour of the same composition, recorded as depicting Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1778-1841), was offered at Bassenge, Berlin, on 11 May 1969, lot 1230, and is listed on the RKD database (https://rkd.nl/imageslite/1891587).