Bildnis der Marguerite Le Comte

Marguerite Le Comte was likely a Parisian bourgeoise whose portrait by La Tour of 1752, now at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, documents the artist's engagement with the wealthy middle class as well as his aristocratic and royal clientele. By 1752 La Tour was the most celebrated portraitist in France, and the demand for his work extended well beyond the court. The Karlsruhe provenance suggests that this portrait entered a German collection at some point, consistent with the broad European dispersal of French Rococo portraiture. The oil-on-canvas medium is somewhat unusual for La Tour at this mature period, and the sitter's name — Le Comte — while suggesting bourgeois rather than noble status, does not preclude a prosperous and cultivated background.

Oil on canvas, handled with La Tour's controlled precision. The female sitter's dress and accessories are rendered with careful attention to fabric texture and ornament, while the face receives the characteristic analytical observation that made La Tour's portraits so sought after by Parisian society.