Porträt von Hyacinthe Gabrielle Roland

By 1791 Vigee Le Brun was a long way from Versailles. As First Painter to Queen Marie Antoinette she had fled France when the Revolution broke out, and she made this portrait in Rome, among other exiles. Her sitter was in the middle of her own crossing. Hyacinthe Gabrielle Roland had been an actress on the Paris stage. She was now living with a rising Irish politician, Richard Wellesley, and raising his children, though the two were not yet married. Vigee Le Brun lends her the calm and directness of a great lady, a part she was still growing into. Three years on the couple married, and the former actress became a countess, and later still a marchioness.