Porträt der Marthe Marie Tronchin

Marthe Marie Tronchin belonged to the distinguished Tronchin family of Geneva, one of the most prominent dynasties of the Genevan republic, whose members included physicians, lawyers, and diplomats. Jean-Robert Tronchin was a close friend of Voltaire, and the family occupied the apex of Genevan intellectual and social life in the mid-eighteenth century. Liotard, himself a Genevan, maintained close ties with the city's elite throughout his career and produced several portraits of Tronchin family members. The pastel of 1758 would have been made during a period when Liotard was resident in Geneva between foreign commissions. Marthe Marie's portrait represents the domestic and civic side of Liotard's practice — intimate works for private use by the city's ruling families — in contrast to his grander imperial and royal commissions.

Pastel on paper, worked with the careful precision Liotard brought to Genevan private commissions. The palette and technique are consistent with his mid-career work, with controlled hatching in the shadowed areas and luminous flesh tones built from warm and cool pastel strokes.