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"F. H. Desbuissons ("Hipolite") "Young aristocratic lady", high quality miniature, 1790/95

As our comparison (images nr.8-9) convincingly prove, this supreme quality miniature with Neoclassical portrait of a young aristocratic lady is a typical work of well-known, late 18th century, French miniaturist Francois Hippolyte Desbuissons, called "Hipolite".

François Hippolyte Desbuissons, called Hipolite, was born ca. 1740 and died after 1822. A pupil of Joseph-Marie Vien, Desbuissons studied at the Royal Academy of Painting in the early 1760s, then was a member of the Saint-Luc Academy in the mid-1780s. He is known for the very high precision of his miniatures, in particular his almost monochrome portraits in profile on a dark background, a bit like a trompe-l'oeil, made at the end of the 1780s, and close to the works of de Gault. One of his stylistic characteristics is a fairly dark and pronounced eyebrow line. Another recurring motif are the delicate garlands of flowers and feathers, with which he adorns the hairstyles or clothing of his female models. He had a son, Joseph-Auguste (1770-1845), trained by himself then by David, who hesitated between an artistic career (he thus produced a certain number of miniatures, signed "Hipolite" like his father, with which they are sometimes confused) and military, and ended up becoming an actor. Hippolyte-François Desbuissons spent a lot of time in Rouen, where he was probably befriended with Jean-Baptiste Descamps the Elder. In 1978, Hipolite's biographer Bedouret finalized the list of his complete works, with only 23 (!) miniatures that were doubtlessly attributed to the artist (Bedouret had not seen our miniature! - B.W.). In this list, among the works from the period between 1778 and 1822 are those monogrammed with "hD" (sic!) and "hipolite" written in italics.