"elisa Roy, Portrait Of A Young Woman, Drawing"

Elisa ROY (1794 Paris - 1851 Paris)
Portrait of a young woman
Pencil drawing with stump.
Signed lower left Elisa Roy and dated 1811.
Small humidity stains.
19th century frame in gilded wood with small accidents.
Dimensions: H. 52 cm, W. 40 cm
Dimensions with frame: H. 62.5 cm, W. 50 cm

Our portrait depicts a young woman with refined, delicate features, styled in the typically Empire style. Her hair is pulled back, a braid held in place by a comb, while symmetrical curls curl in a corkscrew pattern on either side of her face.

This drawing, signed Elisa Roy, may represent a self-portrait at the age of seventeen of the future Countess of Lariboisière. The daughter of a finance minister and peer of France during the Restoration, she married the Count of Lariboisière in 1814, a general of the Empire who would sit in the various assemblies under Louis-Philippe.

Elisa Roy is known today for her social work and philanthropy. Suffering in her later years, she advocated for the sick and decided to bequeath her considerable fortune to the city of Paris to create a hospice. Her name now appears on the pediment of the Lariboisière Hospital, while her portrait by François-Joseph Kinson adorns the walls of the Musée de l'Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, and a monument to her memory, sculpted by Carlo Marochetti, stands in the hospital chapel.