AMANDA SIDWALL. Portrait of a young lady.

Oil on panel, 18 x 24 cm, with frame 37 x 31 cm. Signed A Sidwall.

In this exquisite oil Amanda Sidwall shines with supremely confident brushwork and impressionist flair for light effects. As a viewer, one is struck by how the artist has managed to bring the young woman to life. She sneers a little bemused at us as viewers well over 100 years after this masterful snapshot came into being. Lips marked with a slightly red color. Her prominent earring. And the ear. An ear partially covered with hairs, rendered with hasty and thin brushstrokes.

Amanda Sidwall was born in 1844 in Stockholm as the daughter of the artist Robert Sidwall. Her upbringing and early life gave her a foundation for artistic ambition, and she studied at the Academy of Arts between 1864 and 1870. After her education, she moved to Paris, where she remained from 1874 to 1883, a period that would become crucial to her artistic development. Sidwall's life was marked by an early passing in 1892, only a few days after her mother.

Although her left behind works, mostly portraits and genre painting, do not reveal much about her personality, the letters to her family provide a fascinating insight into her life. In these letters emerges the image of a young woman with artistic ambitions, who came to Paris during the 1870s, where big questions about the development of painting are mixed with mundanities about hairstyles, fashion palaces and gossip.

During his time in Paris, Sidwall oriented himself in the big city, visiting boutiques and department stores, and writing fashion chronicles home to the family. She visited Versailles and strolled in the Bois de Boulogne and was inspired by Murillo's works at the Louvre.

Sidwall became part of an artistic circle with Swedes such as Hugo Salmson and Carl Skånberg, and her life in Paris included both “champagne, soups and hilarious outings.“

Financial worries were a constant companion; she sometimes shared a residence with other female artists and complained about modeling expenses. To get by, she worked for a short period as a drawing teacher on a girls' pension.

Her art education continued at the Académie Julian, where she received Tony Robert Fleury as a teacher. She wrote enthusiastically of her progress:

“In recent weeks I have made great progress, my painting has gained immense power.“

Fleury encouraged her to exhibit at the Salon, which made her nervous but also inspired to use the skills she had gained during her period of study in Paris. At the same time, she was aware of the challenges for Swedish artists, noting: “It must be a long time before a Swede gets noticed.“.