Presumed Portrait Of A Lady From The Family Of The Marquis De La Chartreuse, Circa 1760

Mid-18th-century French school
Presumed portrait of a lady from the family of the Marquis de La Chartre
Circa 1750–1760

Oil on canvas.
Carved and gilded wooden frame from the Louis XV period.

An elegant bust portrait of a young woman of high social standing, depicted seated in an armchair upholstered in rich damask. She is dressed in an emerald-green silk gown with a fitted bodice, accented by a wide muslin shawl and delicate lace cuffs. Her powdered hair is adorned with a flower, while she holds a red carnation in her hand—a traditional symbol of fidelity, affection, and constancy.

The quality of the execution, the rendering of the fabrics, and the softness of the skin tone place this work within the tradition of French provincial portraiture from the 1750s–1760s, drawing on the elegance of the models by Jean-Marc Nattier, Jean-Baptiste Perronneau, or Louis Tocqué, though it cannot be definitively attributed to any of these workshops.

The provenance of this painting is particularly interesting. It comes from the Château de la Gidonnière, located in Lhomme (Sarthe), the historic residence of the Bonnin de La Bonninière de Beaumont family, an ancient line of the nobility of Maine, who owned the estate for several generations, suggesting that it depicts one of its members in the mid-18th century, though no definitive identification can yet be proposed.

Preserved in its remarkable carved and gilded wooden frame from the Louis XV period, adorned with flowers, acanthus leaves, and pomegranates, the work as a whole constitutes a particularly captivating example of French aristocratic portraiture during the reign of Louis XV.

Height 91 cm
Width 71 cm