Portrait of Mme Bouër

Madame Bouër was the wife of Joseph Bouër, and her pendant portrait of 1746—companion to the Rijksmuseum's portrait of her husband—exemplifies the Rococo practice of marriage portrait pairs. In Dutch society, commissioning matched portraits was a statement of domestic solidity and social aspiration, connecting the couple to centuries of Dutch bourgeois portrait tradition stretching back to Rembrandt and Hals. Liotard's treatment of Madame Bouër follows the conventions of female portraiture while maintaining his characteristic directness: she is not idealised into an allegory or a court fashion plate but depicted as herself, with the specific physical presence of an individual rather than a type. The Rijksmuseum's holding of both Bouër portraits allows visitors to appreciate the pair as designed—each portrait completing and responding to the other across the space they were intended to occupy.

Pastel on paper, companion to the Monsieur Bouër portrait: Liotard would have designed the two works in concert, with matching formats, similar lighting, and complementary colour palettes. Madame Bouër's dress provides richer colour opportunities than her husband's more sober coat.