Baronne de Crussol

In 1785 Vigee Le Brun was the most sought-after portraitist in Paris, the painter Marie Antoinette liked best, and she brings that court polish here to a woman of the provincial nobility. But look at the pose. The baroness has turned her back to us and twists round over her shoulder to catch our eye, something almost no formal portrait of the day would risk. In her hands is a sheet of music, an aria from Echo et Narcisse by the composer Gluck, who had lately taken the Paris opera by storm. The baroness was known to love music, and the choice is hers as much as the painter's. The reds and blacks are worked with a dry, brushy touch Vigee Le Brun had sharpened studying the old Flemish masters on a trip north the year before.