This fine portrait miniature of a young nobleman was executed in Paris in 1814 by good listed Polish portrait and miniature painter Antoni Jan Blanck (1785 - 1844).

Jan Antoni Blank (6 May 1785, Olsztyn - 20 February 1844, Warsaw) was a Polish painter in the Classical style who specialized in portraits and miniatures; many of which are in a style similar to Biedermeier. He often signed his paintings as Jan Antoni Blank-Bia³ecki.He was born to the owner of a textile factory, but was orphaned at an early age and raised by the local postmaster. At the age of fifteen, he was apprenticed to Józef Kosiñski, who had been a court painter for King Stanis³aw II August. He remained in Warsaw until 1809, when he moved to Dresden, where he studied with the Austrian painter, Josef Grassi.Upon returning to Warsaw in 1815, he became curator of the plaster casts and drawing teacher of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Warsaw. In 1819, he was appointed a Professor. After the University was closed in 1831, he gave private lessons and did restorative work.In addition to his portraits, he created works on religious and mythological subjects and did ceiling frescoes. Together with his students, he painted decorations at churches throughout Warmia; [1] including Reszel, where he did an altar painting of Saint Catherine, and Saint James Cathedral in Olsztyn, where he painted "Our Lady of Sorrows". He also organized exhibitions in the Palaces of Nieborów and Królikarnia.

His most notable portraits are those of Abraham Stern, Stanis³aw Kostka Potocki and General Jan Teodor Kobylañski (1777-1851). Among his best known students were Rafa³ Hadziewicz, Jan Feliks Piwarski, Antoni Brodowski and January Suchodolski.

Literature: Thieme-Becker "Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler"; wikipedia in Polish.

Inscription: signed and dated 1814, lower right; on the backside antique inscription in Polish with the reference (indistinclty) about the sitter, date and place of creation: Paris 1814.

Technique: gouache on ivory, original period bronze frame.

Measurements: unframed w1 5/8" x h 1 7/8 (4 x 5 cm); framed w 1 5/8" x 1 7/8" ( 4,2 x 5,2 cm).

Condition: in good condition.