Madame Élisabeth de France (1764–1794)

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard's portrait of Madame Élisabeth de France of 1787 depicts the youngest sister of Louis XVI, a princess who would later refuse to flee France during the Revolution and was guillotined in 1794. Labille-Guiard had received an official appointment as Painter to the Mesdames of France — the king's aunts — and her access to the royal family produced some of her most important portraits. Madame Élisabeth was known for her religious devotion and personal goodness, qualities that would make her fate particularly poignant to subsequent generations. The portrait, which entered the Metropolitan Museum, was painted at the height of Versailles court life just two years before it was swept away. It stands as a document of a woman and a world both soon to be extinguished.

Labille-Guiard employs the formal vocabulary of French court portraiture — rich dress, composed pose, neutral yet warm background — while giving Madame Élisabeth's face an individual quality that saves the picture from being merely ceremonial. The handling of silk and lace is accomplished. The overall palette is warm and golden in the Rococo tradition she shared with Vigée Le Brun.