Portrait of the Marquise d'Aguirandes

1759

François Hubert Drouais

(French, 1727–1775)

Culture

France, 18th century

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

Framed: 138.6 x 111.9 x 13.7 cm (54 9/16 x 44 1/16 x 5 3/8 in.); Unframed: 101 x 85.6 cm (39 3/4 x 33 11/16 in.)

Credit Line

Bequest of John L. Severance 1942.638

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Location

216B French and German

Description

Like many French portraitists active during the ancien régime, François-Hubert Drouais was skilled at veiling the physical imperfections of his subjects. This portrait certainly has this quality: the face has been idealized, smoothed, and perfected, but the focus of the painting is less on the Marquise and more on her elegant gown, which is a particularly fine rendering of eighteenth-century printed cloth, with the brilliant gold and white fabric strewn with meticulously detailed flowers and lace.