Thoughts on this portrait please- date of jewellery?

i just bought this for £2 at a car boot sale. It’s in pretty poor condition but someone has gone to a lot of effort but sadly not signed her.
Is she worth restoring properly?- not visible but there is a tear in the middle. She’s quite big c12x18 inches and looks slightly undead!
Can she be dated by her Jewellery?
Any info welcome please
Thanks as always

 

Sorry!

 

I'm going to guess 1880s for the picture. This is partly based on her hairstyle and the type of neckline with lace around it. I think the heavy necklace wouldn't be out of place, either, although it may predate the 1880s for all I know.

This reminds me of the solar enlargement types of paintings that are actually painted over photographs. However, the paint seems a lot thicker than those usually have so it might not be.

Is it painted on paper, or is that paper the seal for the framing?

 

Agree with Figtree!
I was thinking this is the portrait of a necklace wearing a lady

 

Yes, it's the dominant feature in the painting!

 

Hi,
I had to laugh when I saw that necklace. I had a great aunt who when she had her portrait painted had the artist add something. She had the artist paint on her a huge emerald necklace, a matching bracelet, earrings and ring.
She had it done because she wanted her husbands second wife to hound him where the emeralds were. The painting was wonderful but the jewelry was over the top like yours. Thank you for a great laugh this morning.
greg

 

Very much so! Maybe to distract from the slightly blue skin tone!
It’s painted on paper. There was no frame. She was in a pile of prints and c1900 watercolours.

 

I'm with Fig and kyra.

A touch of arsenic can be a problem for your skin tone, gold jewellery will help lift the colour.

 

I think this is unusual

 

Earrings look like they have an archeological revival thing going on:



But that honking great necklace doesn't look like anything I've seen in real life, & very odd that the locket would not be engraved, either decoratively or personalization.

This is it exactly:

 

Love this story.

 

(About those emeralds...ssshhh!)

 

I still wonder whether it was originally a photograph and was painted over. Looking at the edge of her shoulder that is to our left up near her neck, there appears to be an unpainted area. I was wondering whether whoever painted it was following something behind. Although it might also be that they sketched the picture before painting, as some painters do, and forgot to fill in that little area.

 

I will have a good look under better light as soon as I get home.
What date was that technique popular?

 

Definitely best answer

It's covered with something like lacquer that you can see from the back.

 

Agree with 1880s date on. Her fringe (or curly bangs) were worn from the late-Victorian period into the early-Edwardian period.

Debora

 

Here’s a close up of the bit on her right( our left) shoulder that’s been missed. I’ve looked at some of the online photos of solar enlargements and most of them look much more like photos than this does. There is a lot more paint on this one and they look more ‘washy’ ( technical term that!).
Why is it unusual to be on paper? are most of this era on board?
Tricky to photo as it reflects off the lacquer.

 

Did you provide these earrings for her sitting, Bronwen?!. They are almost identical, your search skills are amazing!.
What era is Archaeological Revival?