Portrait of a young lady: dark background, bright light

(1673 Szokolya / Hungary - 1757 Dresden) Portrait of a court lady. In front of a dark, nocturnal landscape background, illuminated by a striking light, stands a young lady who seductively gazes at the viewer with a slightly inclined head. She wears a lilac-colored cloak draped over her shoulders, fluttering to the side, fastened with a clasp, and holds it with her left hand against her chest. On her head, she wears a diagonally placed blue hat adorned with an S-shaped white feather. The red of her lips is echoed by a gem on the hat. The vitality depicted, the charm of the portrayed, the temperament in the brushwork, and the color scheme harmonized in a blue-red-white tone allude, in addition to some other evident stylistic parallels, to a work by Adam Manyoki. It was probably created around 1715-1722 when he was a court painter at the court of Augustus the Strong (1670-1733) in Dresden. The extraordinary motif of the cloak held by hand can also be found in a portrait of Maria Susanna Dinglinger (wife of the Dresden court goldsmith) that is handed down in a print after a painting by Manyoki. Details of the clothing and the characteristic color scheme are comparable to other portraits by Manyoki. The portraitist Adam Manyoki was influenced by the important French painter Nicolas de Largillière, whose works he copied in the Salzdahlumer Gallery. In 1703/07, Manyoki was in Berlin, where he worked for Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm. In 1707, he advanced to court painter of Prince Franz II Rákóczi in Hungary. He must have gained such a reputation during this time that in 1713 Augustus the Strong appointed him court painter in Dresden, where he remained until 1723. There and during his travels, he created numerous portraits of well-known and important persons of the nobility. Since 1738, he worked again at the court in Dresden, alongside court painter Louis de Silvestre, creating portraits of Friedrich August II, son of Augustus the Strong, and the aristocracy. In terms of quality, his works stand up to those of the better-known Silvestre. Manyoki's paintings can be found, among other places, in Warsaw, especially in the Old Masters Picture Gallery in Dresden and in the Museum Schloss Moritzburg. Oil on canvas, 64 cm x 62 cm. Framed. Accompanied by an expertise from Professor Dr. Helmut Börsch-Supan, Berlin. General literature: Eniko Buzasi: "Adam Manyoki (1673-1757)", monograph and oeuvre catalog, Budapest 2003. Oil on canvas. Accompanied by an expertise from Professor Dr. Helmut Börsch-Supan, Berlin.