Official painter to the royal family, the academician Jean-Marc Nattier was the most famous portrait artist during the reign of Louis XV.
Specialising in official portraits, he made more than 400 paintings during his career celebrating some of the most influential members of aristocracy and royalty.
The study in front of you now of Maria Josepha of Saxony, Dauphine of France through her marriage to the Dauphin Louis in 1747, son of Louis XV, illustrates the painter’s talent. Originally part of the ancient royal collections, this half-length portrait shows how Nattier sought to capture the soul of his model whilst at the same time sublimating her features.
Here, he has focused his attention on the young dauphine’s gaze, who stares out at us with a candid expression. Her eyes subtly reflect the light, framed by her powdered hair caught up in a chignon and blending into the neutral-coloured background. The model’s face is highlighted with powder illuminating her cheeks and the red of her lips. This work, characterized by Nattier’s pinks and pearly palette, belongs to a long line of allegorical portraits of Louis XV’s daughters.
As a painter of a society governed by high society distractions, Nattier knew how to capture the latest fashions of the aristocracy during the Enlightenment, immortalizing a world of frivolity which he treats with the greatest of elegance and irrefutable accuracy.