Contessa de la Châtre (Marie Charlotte Louise Perrette Aglaé Bontemps, 1762-1848)

Vigee Le Brun finished this portrait in 1789, and the date sits on it heavily. She was Marie Antoinette's favourite painter, and her sitter, the young Comtesse de la Chatre, belonged to the same royalist court circle. Within months the Revolution would scatter them all. The countess fled France, and Vigee Le Brun herself left Paris that October and spent 12 years in exile. The dress is part of the story too. That simple white muslin gown, worn with a wide sash, was the look the queen had made fashionable, an informal style that critics had attacked as undignified for royalty. The painter renders the light on the fabric and the lace at the cuffs with obvious pleasure. The countess holds a book, one finger keeping her place.