The Old Master paintings section of the sale taking place at Doyle in New York on February 5 will include this large and imposing portrait of Pauline Bonaparte, the younger sister of Napoleon. It was painted by Marie-Victoire Lemoine (1754-1820) who specialised in portraits and genre subjects and shows the sitter, who was later known as Pauline Borghese, at the age of 19.
The oil on canvas, which measures 6ft 5in x 4ft 6in (1.9 x 1.4m) and is signed M Vic Lemoine on the pilaster lower right, was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1799 under the anonymous title Une jeune femme appuyée sur le bord d’une croisée (a young woman leaning on the edge of a window).