Portrait of the Marquise d'Aguirandes

The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Portrait of the Marquise d'Aguirandes as painting (France · 1759).

WHY IT’S INTERESTING

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

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A CLOSER LOOK

The museum identifies this painting as oil on canvas and credits François Hubert Drouais (French, 1727–1775).

The museum's collection notes: 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.

FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE

The Cleveland Museum of ArtPortrait of the Marquise d'Aguirandes

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