Portrait of Louise, wife of Bonnie Prince Charlie

Louise of Stolberg, Countess of Albany, was one of the most culturally significant women in late eighteenth-century Europe. Married in 1772 to Charles Edward Stuart, the Jacobite pretender, she eventually separated from him and established in Florence a celebrated literary salon frequented by Alfieri, Fabre, and the leading intellectuals of the day. Fabre painted her repeatedly throughout their long friendship, and this 1793 portrait in the Uffizi Gallery documents her during the Florentine period when she and Alfieri were at the height of their relationship. After Alfieri's death in 1803, Louise remained in Florence with Fabre until her own death in 1824, and Fabre was the principal heir to both their estates—a testament to the extraordinary bond between these three figures. The Uffizi portrait presents her with the quiet authority and intelligence that contemporaries consistently noted in accounts of her salon. It is among the most important of Fabre's portraits of women, combining precise likeness with a depth of psychological characterisation that reflects the intimacy of their relationship.

Oil paint on canvas with Fabre's characteristic warm Italian palette and smooth finish. The sitter is presented three-quarter length with careful attention to the texture of her dress and the delicacy of her complexion. Fabre's modelling of the face is especially refined here, reflecting the particular care he would have taken with a sitter he knew intimately.