Portrait d'Anne de Clermont, abbesse de Chelles

Anne de Clermont was an abbess of Chelles, one of the most ancient and prestigious Benedictine convents in France, founded in the seventh century and associated throughout its history with royal and noble women who chose or were directed toward religious life. Nattier's 1750 portrait, now in the Louvre, depicts her in the black habit of the Benedictine order, creating a striking contrast with his usual colourful court portraits of women in fashionable dress. The portrait of an abbess required a different iconographic language: instead of mythological allegory or Rococo fashionability, Nattier had to convey authority, piety, and the dignity of office within the conventions of religious portraiture. Anne de Clermont's choice of Nattier—the premier portraitist of Versailles—for her official portrait as abbess indicates the prestige of the Chelles institution and her own social standing within the French aristocracy. The Louvre's preservation of this work places it within the state's collection of French historical portraiture.

The Benedictine black habit presented Nattier with an unusual technical challenge—large areas of near-black fabric that had to be differentiated from the dark background while maintaining the sitter's presence. He achieves this through careful management of reflected light on the habit's surface.