Adolf Ulric Wertmüller

A peripatetic painter, Wertmüller left his native Sweden to study in Rome and settled in Paris by 1781. While living in the French capital he was named Premier Peintre du Roi to King Gustaf III of Sweden and he was also commissioned to paint a monumental portrait of Marie Antoinette and her children, now in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (inv. no. NM 1032). The charming young girl in the present portrait, with her wide eyes, rosy cheeks, lace-trimmed dress and pink flowers, shares much in common with the artist's depiction of the monarch's eldest daughter.

To escape the turmoil of the French Revolution Wertmüller moved to Bordeaux, then to Spain, and in March 1794 he boarded the Swedish brig Aurore and set sail for Philadelphia. He spent the remainder of his life in the United States where he continued to paint portraits, most notably of George Washington.