Portrait de Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, marquise de Pompadour

Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour—Louis XV"s official mistress and one of the most powerful women in France—appears in this 1764 portrait at the Conde Museum in Chantilly. Pompadour"s death in April 1764 makes this one of the last portraits painted during her lifetime. She was the most prodigious patron of French art in the eighteenth century, commissioning works from Boucher, Drouais, and virtually every significant painter of her era.

Drouais presents the Marquise with the dignified elegance that characterized all her commissioned portraits, the polished technique creating an image of refined beauty appropriate to the most cultivated woman in France. The costume and setting are rendered with lavish attention to decorative detail, reflecting Pompadour"s famous taste. The late date may show subtle signs of aging in the face that Drouais handles with diplomatic delicacy.