Lot 598: European School, Portrait of a Girl Oil on Panel, characteristic of a Late 18th Century 31x38cm

A provincial portrait of a young girl, executed in oil on a wooden panel and dating to the late 18th century. The subject is depicted in a half-length, three-quarter view, set within a feigned oval. She wears a teal-green dress with a squared, lace-trimmed neckline and a high-waisted bodice decorated with yellow linear detailing. Her head is adorned with an embroidered cream cap featuring red floral sprigs and a small feather ornament. The style is characteristic of 18th-century folk art, with flattened perspective and linear attention to the facial features and costume decoration. The picture is housed in a period-style frame featuring a wide, black-painted outer section and a gilded, gadrooned inner slip. The verso of the frame retains a small rectangular paper label with the handwritten reference N J 868. The reverse of the wooden panel shows visible grain and old surface staining.