How you can use this image
This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).
Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.
The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.
Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.
Buy a print or image licence
You can purchase this reproduction
If you have any products in your basket we recommend that you complete your purchase from Art UK before you leave our site to avoid losing your purchases.
Notes
Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.
Louis-Gustave Ricard (1823–1873) worked primarily as a portraitist. He moved to England during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, when he probably painted this portrait of a young Ellen Odette (1857–1933), the eldest daughter of Henri Louis Bischoffsheim, a wealthy Jewish banker. Ellen would have been 13 or 14 years old at the time. Ricard has used soft tones and muted lighting. The dark neutral background and Ellen’s own hair highlight her pale face. Although the portrait shows the influence of Dutch painting, Ellen’s open expression – now rather obscured by varnish – also reveals Ricard’s awareness of eighteenth-century British portraiture, particularly portraits of children by Reynolds and Romney. In 1881 Ellen married William Cuffe, 4th Earl of Desart.
Title
The Countess of Desart as a Child
Date
probably 1870-1
Medium
Oil on mahogany
Measurements
H 54.6 x W 45.7 cm
Accession number
NG5573
Acquisition method
Presented by the sitter's sister, Lady Fitzgerald, to the Tate Gallery, 1944; transferred, 1956
Work type
Painting
The National Gallery, London
Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England
-
The Pitcher The Burrell Collection -
Still Life, Pear and Plate The Burrell Collection -
Portrait of a Man The National Gallery, London -
Portrait of a young Girl Ashmolean Museum, Oxford -
The Countess of Desart as a Child The National Gallery, London -
Femme vue du dos (Woman seen from the back) Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery