Portrait of a Young Woman, Possibly Kate Perugini,

pencil on paper
44 x 39 cm. (17 5/16 x 15 3/8 in.)
signed with monogram (lower right)
private collection

Charles Edward Perugin was a genre and portait painter. Born in Naples, Italy, he was encouraged by Leighton to come to England in 1863. Under his influence Perugini painted one or two very fine classical pictures, such as 'The Loom'. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1863. His pictures are mostly of elegant ladies in interiors, sometimes with a romantic or humourous theme. He married Kate Dickens (which is very likely to be depicted here), daughter of Charles Dickens and widow of the Pre-Raphaelite painter Charles Allston Collins.

CZ