Likeness of a Girl

From the early 1830s to approximately 1850 Amerling was Vienna's most celebrated portraitist. A likeness, almost identical to this portrait and entitled Modest Susanna, was executed in 1837.

The portrait represents an example of one of Amerling's favourite compositional schemata to position the bare-backed sitter, turned away from the beholder. Effective highlights lend a soft gleam to the young face and betray the influence of Thomas Lawrence's art of portraiture.