After Samuel Cousins, RA, British 1801-1887- The Surprise, After Claude-Marie-Paul Dubufe; oil on canvas, 35.5 x 30.7 cm. Provenance: Private Collection, UK. Note: The present work is a copy of a mezzotint, taken by Samuel Cousins RA, after French painter Claude-Marie-Paul Dubufe (1790-1864) - see the example held at the British Museum, London [no.2010,7081.4133]. Dubufe’s larger original is held at the National Gallery, London [NG457]. The composition here directly echoes that of the print, which both display compositional differences from Dubufe’s original, notably with the background of a dark maroon and luxurious curtain a departure from the plain wall in the original. Although Dubufe was well known as a portraitist of the French aristocracy, the identity of this woman is unknown. Her state of ‘deshabille’ suggests that this picture was not intended to depict a particular person, but may instead have been based on a model. The woman's pose is based on the Medici Venus, the marble sculpture of the goddess of love made in Greece in the 1st century BC. While the sculpted Venus is nude, this woman wears a thin white blouse and brown shawl.品相报告: Please refer to department for condition report