Portrait of a Woman

Jean Marc Nattier painted Portrait of a Woman in 1753, during his mature career as the most fashionable portrait painter at the French court in the mid-18th century. Nattier specialized in the 'portrait en déesse'—painting aristocratic and royal women in the guise of classical goddesses or allegorical figures—and his ability to combine flattering idealization with the glittering surface of Rococo luxury made him irresistible to his female clientele at Versailles. His portraits of the daughters of Louis XV established the template for royal female portraiture in mid-century France: clouds, allegorical drapery, mythological attributes, all softened by his distinctive pearly, luminous flesh tones. By 1753 Nattier's fashion was beginning to wane as the younger generation sought something more direct, but his technical refinement remained undiminished.

Nattier's characteristic pearlescent flesh tones—cool and luminous, modeled with fine, soft gradations—are the defining feature of his portrait style. The sitter's drapery is painted in the characteristic Rococo palette of light blues, pinks, and creams that recur throughout his work. The handling is smooth and finished, with the emphasis on refined surface rather than painterly breadth.