17th C Miniature Portrait By Carl Gustav Klingstedt Masceradscen

I just had this confirmed...the painting is titled Maskeradscen and is by the wonderful and well listed Swedish Minature Artist Carl Gustav Klingstedt. He painted in the late 17th and early 18th Centuries.

His paintings usually have multiple figures and tell a story. Some have wonderful humor and they make a statement about the times. Making fun of Religion is one of his favorite genres.

Approx. 2 1/4 by 3 inches and nicely framed in a bronze scrolled frame with needlepoint background.

The faces are superbly painted. And the costuming right out of an 18th C book on fashion. Looks like a fragment of a signature in the lower left though too faint to make out.

The actors looks as they are overlooking, perhaps on a balcony, some theater production or gala. The turban clad woman on the far right has a black mask. or domino, in her hand. Young , appears to be a Mulatto, boy in blue jacket peers downward.

Dark green curtain at far right.

Not sure of what it is painted on though I see no chips or cracks and strong paint.

Again one of the best painted Minatures that I have owned. Quite rare in subject.