This fine mid-19th-century oil painting by Belgian artist Adčle Kindt (1804-1884) depicts a lady wearing a beautiful white off-the-shoulder dress with an attached posy of pink roses and forget-me-nots.Kindt was a distinguished painter of portraits, history subjects and genre. A precocious talent, from an early age she was destined to become one of the leading female artists of her generation. She trained under the great neoclassical master Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825), and subsequently two of his finest students, Sophie Frémiet Rude (1799-1867) and the history painter, François-Joseph Navez (1787-1869). Her precision owes much to the latter.It’s intriguing to consider how she operated in the male-dominated world of history painting as it wouldn’t have been the easiest environment. It’s telling that, by 22, she’d already won first prize at the Royal Academy in Ghent. And by 32, she’d amassed a cabinet of medals, including those from Douai, Cambrai, Ghent, and Brussels. Three ...