Marie-Sophie de Courcillon, Duchesse de Pecquigny, Princesse de Rohan

Marie-Sophie de Courcillon, Duchess of Pecquigny and Princess of Rohan, was a member of one of the greatest noble families in France. La Tour's portrait of 1740, now in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, reflects the wide European dispersal of his work through aristocratic collections. The Rohan family stood at the summit of the French nobility — only the royal family outranked them by convention — and a portrait by the most fashionable pastellist in Paris was a statement of cultural authority as well as personal likeness. The Swedish National Museum's holding of this work reflects the Swedish court's engagement with French cultural production, which dominated educated European taste throughout the eighteenth century. The oil-on-canvas medium is unusual for La Tour at this date, when pastel was his primary portrait medium.

Oil on canvas in La Tour's early mature style, before his complete commitment to pastel. The handling combines careful facial observation with the formal compositional conventions appropriate to a sitter of ducal and princely rank. Aristocratic dress is rendered with attention to the hierarchy of materials.