WWI military officer's? hat in a portrait

[on.off]

i found this 2 3/8" by 1 7/8" brooch recently, it has an oil miniature portrait of a young lady wearing what appears to be some kind of military hat. the painting is signed "K. Schwarz 1917". can anybody tell specifically what type of hat it is? it appears to be red with a black bill, perhaps some kind of officer's cap, but i don't know what nations used red during WWI. the artist's name suggests germany, perhaps.

 

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[DCMatt]

The French army wore red caps in WWI (what we call a 'kepi' today). She could be medical corps or Red Cross or any other of the handful of jobs deemed "appropriate for women" back in the day.

That's a great piece with a story to tell. I looked for the artist but found nothing...

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

I don't think it is military. Just a style. And, remember, it is a small painting - not a photograph. Details may be lost or artistically modified.

1915 below described as having "a military influence". https://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2015/02/new-york-fashion-week-might-1915.html

 

[cw0909]

edit, forgot the hat link
French soldiers in Rennes, Winter 1914
https://aminoapps.com/c/world-histo...-in-rennes/nvK7_R3hLuMJMqYnYr0L1Q5roEYlLYX04w

maybe Nicole Girard-Mangin, she was a Dr. in France,called up to the french army in 1914.
may have been mistaken for a male,once there she had to stay, as a shortage of Dr.& nurse

https://www.google.com/search?q=nic...XcipTwDw&bih=798&biw=1587&rlz=1CAYOGJ_enUS952

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicole_Girard-Mangin

 

[Kenosha Kid]

It could just be the colors of the country’s WW1 military hats. Germany and Bulgaria had tan/red/black colors. Your pic does look, imo, to have a bit of tan color on the top as the red does not seem to go all the way up.

 

[DCMatt]

Here's an observation. This person's hair is absolutely unruly. I looked at a bunch of pics of Edwardian Era women and almost always the hair is up or pulled back off the face.

So it begs the question, is this a young(er) girl? A portrait brooch worn by a proud mother? Mourning jewelry?

Good info and lots of examples here:

https://www.morninggloryjewelry.com/articles/gallery/portrait-jewelry/

 

[Red-Coat]

Are you 100% sure it’s a brooch and that whatever fixture is on the back is not just something that allows it to be propped up as a picture frame?

That could be a French kepi or a number of other uniform possibilities but the tousled locks and the open-necked blouse don’t suggest someone posing in their wartime professional togs to me. The picture also looks too full of ‘come-hither’ with a cheeky expression that isn’t appropriate for a mourning portrait I think.

Another possibility occurs to me. During both WWI and WWII, there was a trend for the sweethearts of servicemen to pose for pictures of themselves playing ‘dress-up’ in their boyfriends’ uniforms or parts of uniforms such as helmets and caps. A little reminder for them when they were away fighting. Usually photographs, but I have seen at least one miniature portrait painting produced for the same reason. It very much seems to have been a ‘German’ thing, but the girlfriends were often those acquired in occupied France. This kind of thing, from WWI:



Things got a little racier in WWII:

 

[on.off]

Thanks guys for all the thoughtful replies.

I looked for the artist but found nothing…

I also tried to find the artist without luck. It was probably somebody local who did portraits and never achieved any amount of widespread fame. one of the auction result websites had a couple pieces by a Karl Schwarz in the right date range, but there weren't enough examples or info to make an attribution (that artist himself seems relatively unknown himself)

1915 below described as having “a military influence”

That’s an interesting thought! I hadn’t considered it might just be a fashion thing, as I don’t know too much about 1910s fashion.

French soldiers in Rennes, Winter 1914...

Those look very close. I looked at many images of Nicole Girard-Mangin, and I don’t see a close enough resemblance, although that would have been really cool and it was interesting to learn about her.

Here's an observation. This person's hair is absolutely unruly. I looked at a bunch of pics of Edwardian Era women and almost always the hair is up or pulled back off the face.

So it begs the question, is this a young(er) girl? A portrait brooch worn by a proud mother? Mourning jewelry?

I noticed that the hair looked unruly. This is part of what made me wonder if it was a girlfriend/mistress/wife wearing her fella’s hat. Her blouse also looks fairly open—the cleavage isn’t shown in the image, but I would say definitely implied. There is something familiar, intimate, almost flirty in her depiction.

I would rule out mourning jewelry. It doesn’t have the look of it, and by 1917 it wasn’t really a thing anymore.

Are you 100% sure it’s a brooch…pictures of themselves playing ‘dress-up’

Yes, 100% a brooch. The pinstem is missing and I will make a replacement. The back is original, made of copper or brass (with a dark 104 year old patina) and the original pin catch and hinge for the stem are soldered on.

My feeling is that you are right, and this is somebody playing dress-up.
—
Here is a better photo of the brooch parts and also some sort of inscription on the back. It’s really hard to decipher. At first I thought it said Aix, but I’m just having a really hard time reading it.