The Countesses Zoë and Adelaide of Tomatis

The two eldest Tomatis daughters sit side by side and look out at us with an easy self-assurance. Around 1788, when Lampi painted them in Warsaw, a portrait of well-educated girls was expected to show their minds as well as their looks. Here that job falls to two small props, a laurel wreath in Zoë's hair and a pen with a portfolio in Adelaide's hand, signs of an artistic bent. The faces are finished, while below the shoulders the gowns remain a loose sketch of brown lines on pale paint. The museum does not know why Lampi stopped. The picture was long known as Caroline and Zoë, until newer family research showed that Zoë's sister here is Adelaide. It stayed with the family's descendants until 1923, when it reached the museum through an exchange with a Munich art dealer.