Madame de Pompadour (1721 - 1764)
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Oval oil painting in portrait orientation depicting the head and torso of Madame de Pompadour looking to the left in three-quarter profile. She wears a cream silk loose gown with a blue silk cloak loosely draped around her shoulders. She wears a garland of roses and other flowers around the neckline of her dress, behind her and up into her hair on the right side. She wears a string of pearls on a gold band on her right arm.
Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson (1721-1764), marquise de Pompadour, was the acknowledged mistress - 'maîtresse-en-titre' - of king Louis XV from 1745 until her death. This fine portrait has not been attributed to a particular artist, but it demonstrates knowledge of several portraits by François Boucher (1703-1770), Maurice-Quentin Delatour (1704-1788), and Jean-Marc Nattier (1685-1766). These portraits were central to Pomadour's self-presentation, carefully designed to captivate the King.
Pompadour's turning head, suggesting a backward glance, was used by Boucher in three full-length portraits, now in the Musée du Louvre of 1750 (R.F. 2142); in the Victoria and Albert Museum of 1758 (487-1882); and in Munich's Alte Pinakothek of 1756 (HUW 18). Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild once owned the latter portrait, but bequeathed it to his brother Nathaniel(1836-1905). Maurice-Quentin Delatour also used a similar pose in his portrait of Pompadour seated in her study (Louvre, Département des Arts graphiques, INV27614).
The oval format seen in the present portrait, capturing only the marquise's head and torso, is much more intimate in feel to these full-length formal portraits. Her loose clothes are evocative of the boudoir. This state of undress, coupled with the cool blues and whites of luxurious silk and pearls, appears in Boucher's 1749 oval portrait of Pompadour in Portland Art Museum (65.13). Jean-Marc Nattier also used similar colours in his portrait of Pompadour (Musée de l'hôtel Sandelin). However, the drapery depicted by Nattier is more akin to a classical statue, unlike the more realistic garments depicted in the Waddesdon portrait.
The garland of flowers wrapping around the marquise's figure appears in another portrait of Pompadour, also unattributed (see Thierry Bajou, 'Le portrait de la marquise de Pompadour (vers 1760), un nouveau Carle van Loo à Versailles'; 'Revue du Louvre'; Feb 1995, pp. 36-45, fig. 4). In that portrait, Pompadour appears in the hat and dress of a shepherdess, relating to her practice of dressing up to amuse the King. Here, she is much more courtly and powerful in appearance.
Flowers were included in almost all portraits of the marquise. She was passionate about flowers and gardening. They also symbolise the brevity of life as well as different emotions, such as love symbolised by roses. The garland of these flowers flowing from her dress up into her hair gives a sense Pompadour's abundance of this emotion.
Phillippa Plock, 2011
Dimensions (mm) / weight (mg)
670 x 545
Signature & date
not signed or dated
Inscriptions
Paris
Inscription
on verso, chalk
Nattier portrait of a lady
Inscription
on verso
687 (IL Le ?) B Ferdinand De Rothschild
Inscription
on verso - within frame recess
Labels
[Labels of Chenue, London]
Printed label
on verso
Oval port. of lady with flowers in hair, Nattier
Label
on verso - top centre
J.Chenue, French packer, Nattier portrait of a lady, 10 Great St Andrew Street, Shaftesbury Avenue, London W.C.
Printed label
on verso - central bar
Fountain Bedroom, panel left facing bed
Label
on verso - stretcher
Fountain Bedroom, panel left facing bed
Label
on verso - frame
88
Label
on verso - small round sticker on bottom of stretcher
Portrait of lady, London W.C
Label
on verso - back left of frame, ripped
Provenance
- Acquired by Alice de Rothschild (b.1847, d.1922); inherited by her great-nephew James de Rothschild (b.1878, d.1957); inherited by his wife Dorothy de Rothschild (b.1895, d.1988); given to Waddesdon (National Trust) in 1971.
Collection
- Waddesdon (National Trust)
- Gift of Dorothy de Rothschild, 1971
Subject person
- Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, marquise de Pompadour, Sitter