Portrait of a Lady with Powdered Hair

Powdered hair was the dominant fashion for women of the French and European aristocracy from the mid-seventeenth century through the Revolution, and its depiction posed specific challenges and opportunities for portraitists. The white or grey powder—made from starch or flour scented with violet or orris root—was applied over greased hair built up on pads and wire frames to achieve the towering confections that characterise Rococo fashion. Nattier's undated portrait of this unknown lady, preserved at the Bowes Museum, is a confident exercise in capturing the texture and mass of a powdered coiffure alongside the soft luminosity of skin. The lady's identity is lost, but the quality of the painting suggests a sitter of considerable social standing. Nattier's ability to render the subtle gradations between white powder, pale skin, and white linen or lace required precise control of tone—one of the most demanding aspects of the Rococo portrait tradition. The Bowes Museum context places this work among a group of French paintings valued for their decorative refinement rather than historical documentation.

The technical challenge of this portrait lies in differentiating white powder from pale skin and white fabric using only tonal nuance. Nattier achieves this through warm underlayers for the skin beneath cool grey-white glazes for the hair, with the fabric handled in yet another cool register.