Marie Adélaïde of France (1732–1800), daughter of Louis XV

Marie Adélaïde of France (1732–1800) was the fourth daughter of Louis XV and one of the most strong-willed of the Mesdames de France. She would outlive the Revolution, narrowly escaping to Italy in 1791 with her sister Victoire, and die in Trieste in 1800—a remarkable survival for a princess of the ancien régime. Nattier's 1750 portrait at Versailles captures her at eighteen, before the political upheavals that would define her later life. Adélaïde was known for her musical ability, her directness of manner, and her later influence over her nephew Louis XVI. Nattier painted her, like her sisters, in a carefully considered guise—the choice of presentation (whether mythological or in court dress) signalled qualities the royal family wished to emphasise. The Versailles collection's preservation of this work places it within the comprehensive visual history of the Bourbon dynasty's domestic life.

The eighteen-year-old princess receives Nattier's most careful handling—she is young enough to require the soft modelling of youth but old enough to demand the full compositional authority of adult portraiture. The balance between these demands is managed through posture and dress rather than facial idealisation.