Henriette Browne, 'A Greek Captive', 1863

A young girl sits quietly on a chair which is covered with fabric, engaging the viewer directly with her gaze. Her lips are slightly parted and her smooth porcelain complexion is flushed with tinges of pink. Her large blue eyes are somewhat melancholic – there is a hint of uncertainty or vulnerability. She wears a richly patterned blue silk robe laced with gold trim, tied at the waist with a wide, red sash. A matching red headband is decorated with intertwined leaves, reminiscent of the wreath crowns of antiquity. She holds a sprig of leaves that may be laurel or perhaps myrtle, a plant traditionally associated with love.

The model is Maria Pasqua Abruzzesi (1856–1939), a young and famously beautiful Italian girl who had been born at Easter time (Italian: Pasqua) in the town of Velletri, south of Rome. Her parents were poor and earned their living working as artists’ models, a career that they also pursued for their daughter, whose charm and natural beauty were much admired.

In 1862 Maria’s father, Domenico, travelled with his six-year-old daughter from Rome to Paris, a difficult journey, much of which was undertaken on foot. There, she would enjoy enormous success as a child model, posing for celebrated artists including Ernest Hébert, Léon Bonnat, Charles François Jalabert and Henriette Browne. Paintings of her were acquired by eminent patrons such as the famous art critic Théophile Gautier and Baron James de Rothschild.

During the nineteenth century, nostalgic images of children became increasingly popular with collectors, representing the innocence and purity of youth. There was also a vogue for genre paintings portraying children in sentimental costume, or in the guise of peasants or street children. The painting may be intended to incite compassion in the viewer. Although the outfit indicates some wealth, the title A Greek Captive implies that the girl’s situation is precarious. Browne may have wanted to recall the depictions of Greek peasants held captive by the Ottomans before and during the Revolution of 1821, such as those by Eugène Delacroix.

The French artist Henriette Browne travelled widely with her husband Henri Jules de Saux, a diplomat, visiting destinations such as Constantinople, Morocco and Egypt. She became a leading exponent of the Orientalist movement and exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon, where her paintings generated considerable acclaim. Nevertheless, she chose to exhibit under a pseudonym (her real name was Sophie de Bouteiller), since it was considered socially unacceptable for a woman of aristocratic standing to become a professional artist.

Maria Pasqua Abruzzesi parted ways with her father under extraordinary circumstances. A portrait of the young girl caught the attention of an eccentric English noblewoman, Anna Maria Helena, Comtesse de Noailles, who, having lost a child of her own, adopted and raised Maria as her own daughter in England. Aged 21, Maria married Philip Candler Shepheard, a doctor from Norfolk, and lived at Abbots Hall estate near Aylsham, where they raised four children. She would never see her own family again.