"portrait Of A Quality Lady" Fixed Under Glass, 18th Century, England

"Portrait of a quality lady" fixed under glass.
Painting under glass is a difficult artistic technique that is executed directly on a sheet of glass.
The glass supports the paint like a canvas. Thus the glass serves both as a support and as a protective varnish. It is a “cold” painting technique so the process does not require baking.
The pigment is bound to the glass by an oily vehicle most often based on varnish. Reverse glass painting has been known in the West since antiquity. Qualified as “learned art”, it was during the Renaissance that this form of art reached its apogee in that the compositions became very elaborate, the colors harmonious, the virtuosity of the technique stunning. Until then reserved for an elite of artists, painting on inverted glass spread widely and became a popular art in Europe during the second half of the 18th century.

Height: 42cm.
Width: 31cm. 

18th century

England