Antique Portrait Miniature of a Lady in Renaissance Dress, Signed

A finely detailed portrait miniature depicting a young woman dressed in Renaissance-style attire, with a dark velvet bodice trimmed in pearls and a translucent ruff collar. Her fair hair is elegantly coiled, and she gazes softly toward the viewer with a poised and serene expression. The artist skillfully combines precise brushwork and delicate tonal transitions, producing an image that blends historical costume fantasy with 19th-century Romantic sensibility.

Medium: Watercolour 

Signature: Signed Saint M.P. at lower left

Frame: Oval turned mahogany with gilt-metal bezel

Dimensions: Portrait measures 3.5 x 2.5 inches

Origin: Continental Europe, likely France

Period: ca. 1850

Very good condition; no cracks or pigment losses visible under glass. Slight surface dust and minor wear to frame consistent with age. The back retains a paper lining made from early printed musical notation, typical of 19th-century reused manuscript paper in framing workshops.

Provenance

Private collection, Roquebrune-sur-Argens, France.