French: Marie-Hélène Dubuc de Cacrel

Young, Napoleonic Era Boy, Seated in a Wooded
Landscape and Holding the Portrait of a Young Girl,
Presumably His Deceased Sister

French
circa 1800
by Marie-Hélène Dubuc de Cacrel (died 1816, Paris, France)

3 3/4 x 4 7/8 inches (sight); full frame measures 5 5/8 x 6 3/4 inches

watercolor on ivory; housed under glass in a gilt wooden frame

A view of the reverse of the portrait in its frame, bearing an
inscription in French attributing the painting to Cacrel.
(Click + symbol above for an enlarged view)

About the Portrait: Depicted in this circa 1800 "portrait within a portrait" painting is a young boy, seated in a wooded landscape and affectionately holding the portrait of what is presumably his deceased younger sister. Some exposed dirt is visible at the boy's feet, leading one to wonder if the scene might have been the burial spot of the young girl. In the far distance, mountains are visible, as is what is either a lake or a lagoon and a neoclassical home of some kind (presumably the boy's family home).

An inscription to the reverse of the portrait indicates that it was painted by by Marie-Hélène Dubuc de Cacrel, of whom little is known other than that she was raised on the French Indies island of Saint Lucia and died in Paris, France in 1816.

Might this delightful portrait within a portrait have been painted in the French Indies? The scenery would support this theory.