Follower of Jacques d’Agar

ABOUT THE ARTIST: 

Jacques d'Agar  was a French portrait painter born in Paris. He was a pupil of Jacob Ferdinand Voet and began his career as a  historical painter, but he soon abandoned history for portraiture.  

 
In 1675 he was admitted into the  Académie Royale, and also became painter to the king and his court. Upon the revocation of the  Edict of Nantes  in 1598  Agar, like so many other artists who were  Protestant, left France never to return. 

He was invited to the court of Denmark, and was patronised by King Christian V. Walpole tells us that he visited England, where he resided for some time and met with success. He painted the portraits of several members of the British nobility of Queen Anne's reign including the Duchess of Montagu, the Countesses of Rochfort and Sunderland and Thomas, Earl of Strafford.

ABOUT THE SUBJECT: 

During this period d'Agar devoted himself exclusively to portraits, often for court circles in The Hague. In this case, he has highlighted this elegant figure of a girl and portrayed the richness of her costume, her jewellery, her hat and her extravagant hairstyle.  This portrait bears many influences from Northern portraiture of the period in both style and content especially the  ability to represent the textures and fine fabrics. The details in her dress, the use of lighting and the incorporation of deep red silk - with gold decorations - on the background column, enhance the image of a wealthy and tasteful class. 

She wears a profusion of pearls in her hair, ears, necklace and on her dress. Women would decorate themselves using pearls to signify wealth and  artists exploited their symbolic associations.   This was a period, after the Spanish wars, where much wealth was generated from trading and the nobility wanted to flaunt their newly gained riches.    If this were a wedding portrait, as we suspect, the significance of red roses is of earthly love and devotion. 

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