Portrait of the Baroness de Foucaucourt
Fine Arts
Inventory number
2021.10.29.2.FA.PA.C1762.FRDescription
Painting portrait of a noble young woman holding a parrot eating walnuts on her left hand, with a chinoiserie style cage on the background, with a top reminding a pagoda. The lady is holding another walnut in her right hand. She is dressed in a pink cape trimmed with fur, the front piece of her dress is decorated with floral embroidery. The neckline and the sleeves are decorated with fine lace, precious Mechlin lace or Point de Malines, woven on bobbins. They are distinguished by the thinness of the thread, lightness, elasticity and endless options in ornamentation. On the front the dress is adorned with a blue-red ribbon with lace, a sapphire in a heart shape and a natural rose. The lady is wearing a bracelet with a miniature portrait of her husband and a black choker necklace with a row of pearls. Her grey hairstyle is decorated with five flowers on the top.In the right bottom corner, on a pedestal table, a coat of arms, relating two noble families, is represented: MOREL de FOUCAUCOURT on the left, azure with the fleur-de-lys of gold accompanied by three acorns; de MONET de La MARCK de BAZENTIN on the right, quarterly: 1st and 4th of azure with a golden lion, to 2nd and 3rd of gold with three posed columns accompanied by three red roses. All surmounted with a ducal crown, and an inscription of the motto of MOREL family in Latin "Nescit labi virtus" (Virtue knows not to fall).
The noble lady is known as Marie Charlotte Pélagie de MONET de La MARCK de BAZENTIN (1736 - after 1760), Mademoiselle de Saint Martin, married to Jean Claude MOREL de FOUCAUCOURT (1727 - 1817), Baron de Foucaucourt. She was the sister of Jean-Baptiste LAMARCK, a French naturalist, soldier, biologist, and academic, which can explain the presence of an exotic bird on the painting.
Materials
Oil on canvasWood
Origin
circa 1762 FranceDimensions
Width : 1.8 cmLength : 65 cm
Height : 81 cm