Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse du Barry

Drouais's portrait of Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse du Barry from around 1770-74 depicts the last royal favorite of Louis XV in one of the most politically charged portrait commissions of the late Ancien Régime. Du Barry, born illegitimate and raised in a convent, rose through French courtly society to become the king's official mistress in 1769, accumulating enormous wealth and political influence until Louis's death in 1774. Drouais captures her famous beauty — the luminous complexion, the elaborate coiffure, the fashionable dress — with the flattering idealization expected of royal portrait painters while suggesting the intelligence and composure that had allowed her remarkable ascent. The painting was executed just before her influence ended with Louis's death, after which she was exiled and eventually, during the Revolution, guillotined.

Drouais's oil on canvas renders the comtesse with luminous flesh tones and lavish attention to costume and jewelry, combining flattering idealization with the naturalistic directness that characterized his late portrait style.