A provincial mid-19th-century portrait of a seated lady wearing a black dome-shaped dressed with a white collar. Her right arm is resting on a table with several red books, which indicates her literacy.

Her style fits perfectly alongside other portraits from the 1840s. It was a decade whereby dome-shaped dresses became increasingly more voluminous and hair was parted perfectly in the centre. Women also often wore pendants or cameos attached to long necklaces - as we see here.

An inscription on the reverse refers to ‘Maria Birgitta’ who died in 1906 and there’s potentially also a reference to the artist.

The portrait is housed within a black lacquered frame that’s probably the original.