№ 1436

Leather and silk letter case with embroidery, love poem and miniature painted by Favorin Lerebours

This letter case is a rare examples of the Ivo Collection. It reveals a miniature portrait of a young beautiful woman dressed in a fashionable empire line dress and painted in 1806. The portrait is signed and dated by the French painter Favorin Lerebour (ca.1773-?). The poem is of course in French: the language of the European elite of the time and the language of love. “Que de mon Amour pour Vous, Ce portrait soit la gage et l’assurance, Mais mon coeur en seroit jaloux, S’il vous consolait de l’absence." Even the English translation sounds extremely romantic. ‘This portrait is proof and assurance of my love for you, but my heart will be jealous if it reconciles you in my absence.’
France, 1806.