Charlotte Frederika Theodore Jung (1807-1888) was born into a Dutch-German family. She married Pieter Smits, owner of the charcoal factory ‘De Benenkluif’ in Utrecht. After her husband’s death in 1853, she took over the factory and made it one of the country’s most prosperous companies. Charlotte Jung must be regarded as one of the most successful female business-owners of the 19th-century. 

In this pastel portrait, possibly made in her birthplace Oudenbosch, Charlotte is only 13 months old. She is depicted grabbing a stem from a basket of flowers.  It is signed ‘Roger/ 1808’ in the lower left corner.

Charlotte Jung later remarried the well-known architect, designer and draughtsman Christiaan Ostermann.