Portrait présumé de Mme de Mailly (1710-1751), en Hébé

This 1730 Nattier portrait of a woman presumed to be Madame de Mailly depicted as Hébé — goddess of youth who served as cupbearer to the gods — exemplifies the mythological portrait genre that defined his career. Louise Julie de Nesle, Comtesse de Mailly, was the first of the Nesle sisters to become a mistress of Louis XV in the 1730s. Depicting her as Hébé was highly appropriate: the goddess of youth implied the sitter's freshness and her role in serving the king's pleasure, without stating it directly. The Musée Carnavalet's holding of this work connects it to the history of Parisian court culture, and the 'présumé' (presumed) in the title acknowledges that the identification, while plausible, is not definitively documented.

The Hébé costume — a flowing robe, often white or gold, with a cup or pitcher as attribute — gave Nattier the opportunity to work with luminous drapery cascading over a figure of idealized beauty. His characteristic handling of white drapery, using cool blue-grey shadows against warm highlighted areas, is likely fully deployed here.