Portrait of a Lady with Scarlet Dress, Lace Collar, and Pearl Jewellery C.1620; by Claude Deruet (1588–1660), Oil on Panel Painting

This charming jewel-like portrait is an example of the type of small-scale panel portraits, often of splendid beauties of the time, that became fashionable from about the first quarter of the seventeenth century. It represents a young woman dressed in resplendent scarlet attire with fashionable balloon-like slashed sleeves, and an elaborate openwork lace standing collar that has been painstakingly delineated. The accessory par excellence – pearls – are worn as a coronet, a necklace, and as earrings known as ‘unions excellence’ as they reflected the difficulty of finding perfectly matched pearls of such large size (they could range up to 20 millimetres in diameter). These expensive items, along with the whiteness of her skin, are indicative of the sitter’s wealth and social status.

These superb little portraits, reflections of high society in the French 17th century were very popular both at the time but also by collectors today some four hundred years later. The artist took great effect in rendering the facial details; this portrait sits within some of the best work by the artist and is a notable example of French portraiture. Held in a beautiful antique gilded frame.

Claude Deruet (1588–1660) was a prominent French Baroque painter of the 17th century. He was an apprentice to Jacques Bellange, who served as the official court painter for Charles III, Duke of Lorraine. Between approximately 1612 and 1619, Deruet was in Rome, where he reportedly studied under the painter and etcher Antonio Tempesta.

In 1621, Deruet was ennobled by the Duke of Lorraine, and in 1645, he was honoured as a Knight of the Order of St. Michel by Louis XIII, who had incorporated much of Lorraine into France. He owned an opulent residence in Nancy known as La Romaine, which hosted Louis XIII and his Queen during their visit in 1633. In 1623, Claude Lorrain apprenticed under Claude Deruet for a year. Deruet and his wife had two sons, one of whom pursued a career in painting.

Measurements: Height 70cm, Width 55cm framed (Height 27.5”, Width 21.5” framed)

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