Miss M.A.B.

Wearing a Regency style dress of spotted muslin and with her thick strawberry blonde hair upswept and secured with plaited braids, this young lady is known only by her initials M.A.B.. She is set against a rich cornflower blue background that heightens the contrast with her pale skin tones.

The miniature is signed bottom right, Hervé. Of probable French descent, the Hervé family produced several artists over several generations, some specialising in silhouettes. Those contending as the artist of this portrait are Charles (active 1801-1816), Henry (active 1801-1817) and Peter (b.1775). Charles exhibited a miniature of a Mrs Bland at the Royal Academy in 1806. He is also listed in the Bath Guide of 1810, without an initial. Peter, possibly a brother of Charles, exhibited eleven miniatures between 1802 and 1820.

The portrait is set in a gold frame that is glazed on the reverse to show a lock of strawberry blonde hair tied with gold wire and surmounted with her initials in seed pearls.

There is a small loss to the opaque white on her dress and some dust under the glass; otherwise in very good condition.