Masterfully portrait miniature of a young lady was executed ca. in 1795-1800 by important French miniaturist Jean Baptiste Couvelet (1772 Charleville - 1830 Mezieres ).

Son of Louis Couvelet, a tailor, and Jeanne Françoise Chayaux! Jean Baptiste Couvelet grows in Charleville, where he studied at the college of the city. It is not clear whether he was or not the student of Jacques-Louis David. While monographs and Baudson And Labaste see the treatment of the classic and the "purity of design" a certain kinship between the two painters, Bernadette Chaignet-Sortais think he rather rubbed David´s students. In Paris, Couvelet met Ponce Lambert. The two men develop their miniaturist talent.

After graduation Couvelet returns in the Ardennes where he married Marguerite Adelaide Colson April 26, 1795. The couple has five children Adolphe-Hippolyte Couveley and Adelaide marries Auguste Désiré Lambert, son of Ponce. Appointed professor of drawing Charleville Central School April 4, 1798, Couvelet conducts both his career as a painter and teacher, making a large number of miniatures and portraits including that of General Morin then director of the manufacture of weapons of Charleville. In 1815, he was appointed Assistant to the Committee on Finance of Charleville then occupied by Prussian troops. Couvelet died at his home in Mezieres in 1830. He is buried in the cemetery Mezieres but his tomb no longer exists. [4]students Edit

As an art teacher, Couvelet has many students. However five of them experienced artistic careers more or less remarkable. The first of them is none other than his son Adolphe-Hippolyte Couvelet born in 1802. Then comes Nestor L´Hote whose knowledge of design acquired from Couvelet allow him to participate as a draftsman shipments of Champollion. The Host also wrote that "the whole life of recognizing good principles and good advice that he has given in his art". Finally, Couvelet is the teacher of three brothers Moreaux : François-René Moreaux born 1807, Léon Charles Florent Moreaux born in 1815 and Louis Auguste Moreaux born in 1817.

The Ardenne Museum and Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam keep a number of Miniature works by Couvelet.

Literature: Nathalie Lemoine-Bouchard, Les Peintres en miniature actifs en France 1650-1850, Éditions de l’Amateur,‎ 2008;Artist lexicons by Schidlow, Thieme/Becker, Benezit; Leo Schidlof " Die Bildnisminiatur in Frankreich im XVII, XVIII und XIX Jahrhundert"; Ernst Lemberger " Meisterminiaturen aus fünf Jahrhunderten", Leipzig, 1911; Bernadette Chaignet-Sortais (dir.), « Trois peintres en miniature : Jean-Baptiste Couvelet, Ponce Lambert, Angélique Bouillet : leurs rapports familiaux et amicaux », dans La miniature en Europe. Des portraits de propagande aux œuvres éléphantesques,‎ 2013, 63-69 p.

Inscription: signed and inscribed Paris, upper left .

Technique: gouache on ivory, original period frame, inner frame - ormolu.

Measurements: image diameter w 2 1/2" (6,5 cm); framed w 5 1/2" x h 5 1/2" (14 x 14 cm).

Condition: in very good condition.