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Lot 168Y

24 May 2006, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

£700 - £900

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Jean Henri Roust (French,, b.1795)

Mlle Bombier, the French actress, wearing men's clothing, her black jacket with puffed sleeves, white shirt and waistcoat and fawn-coloured trousers, seated in an interior, her arm resting on an open book of Voltaire's 'Zaïre', a landscape beyond the open window.
Signed and dated in gold on obverse, Par H. Roust 1829, gilt-mounted veneered wood frame, the reverse with printed label with sitter's and artist's details.
Oval, 105mm (4 1/8in) high

Footnotes

Mademoiselle Bombier was an actress of the Théâtre Français who specialised in male leads. Shown here in male attire, rather than in costume, she even has a false pencilled moustache. In the present lot, Mlle Bombier rests her arm on a copy of Voltaire's tragedy Zaïre, which had first been performed in 1732. The inclusion of the book denotes Bombier's profession and was perhaps the play she was performing in at the time.

Additional information