This is a portrait of the daughter of the artist’s landlord at Southend, where Brown stayed in 1846. He had just returned from Europe; at Basel he had admired the portraits of Holbein and in Rome he studied the Italian Renaissance and the German Nazarene painters. This experience is reflected in the frontal pose, even light and clear shadowless modelling of the figure. At a time when child portraiture tended to the sweet and sentimental, Brown painted the little girl with remarkable naturalness and directness.
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