Portrait of Maria Frederike van Reede-Athlone at Seven Years of Age

Maria Frederike van Reede-Athlone was seven years old when Liotard captured her in this celebrated pastel, now one of the treasures of the J. Paul Getty Museum. The van Reede family belonged to the Dutch-Irish aristocracy, and the portrait was likely made during Liotard's extended stay in the Netherlands in the mid-1750s, where he enjoyed considerable patronage among the wealthy merchant and noble class. Child portraiture in the mid-eighteenth century occupied an interesting cultural position: children were increasingly seen as individuals worthy of psychological attention, influenced partly by Locke's ideas about childhood development. Liotard's approach is characteristically unsentimental — the girl is neither cherubic nor allegorised, but rendered with the same direct observation he brought to adult subjects. The pastel medium suited children's portraits particularly well, its soft textures echoing the delicacy of young skin. This work has become one of Liotard's most recognised images, admired both for its technical refinement and its unaffected depiction of its small subject.

Pastel on vellum, with Liotard's signature tight linear hatching visible in the dress and hair. Flesh tones are built up in thin, controlled layers, achieving a luminosity that rivals oil while maintaining the powdery softness intrinsic to the medium. The colour palette is delicate — pale blues, creams, and rose tones.