Lady in carnival costume, mask, mouches and tremblants – c. 1730, French school, circle of C.-A. Coypel

Lady in carnival costume, mask, mouches and tremblants – c. 1730, French school, circle of C.-A. Coypel

Oil on canvas, original canvas

Dimensions: 56 × 47 cm (unframed)

Gilded wooden frame, 19th century

Period: Rococo

Portrait of a court lady in carnival attire, attributable to the French school of the 1730s. The costume, ornaments, and posture reflect the codified art of aristocratic disguise in early 18th-century society.

The face is adorned with multiple mouches, placed according to the refined codes of galant coquetterie. Her short hairstyle is decorated with flowers, aigrettes, and tremblants—jewels mounted on fine springs designed to shimmer with movement.

Accessories include a small black mask held delicately in hand, a velvet ribbon set with stones around the neck, and large girandole earrings, typical of Rococo elegance.

The facial structure shows striking similarities to Charlotta Fredrika Sparre as portrayed by Donat Nonnotte in the painting held at the Nationalmuseum: same balanced oval, same restrained grace.

This is not a portrait of escapism, but of a carefully orchestrated masquerade—where desire and identity are shaped through artifice and control, in a pictorial language both graceful and intelligent.