Portrait of Madame La Marquise De Rochambeau

c. 1770

"Portrait of Madame La Marquise de Rochambeau" (French, c. 1770) by Catherine Lusurier (French, 1753-1781). The subject is depicted at half length, seated, wearing a floral silk dress on a white ground. The bodice has a large green, red and blue striped bow. Around her neck is a black ribbon with a partially hidden gold pendant. There is a bracelet on her wrist bearing a miniature of a gentleman in a brass surround attached to a piece of black silk. Her gray hair is worn high and accented with a striped ribbon. She is seated in a red upholstered gilt Louis XV chair, holding a small black dog on her lap, with a blue ribbon around its neck. The background is in tones of grey with a flowing red silk curtain to the left. The canvas is housed in a gilt frame with an applied interior band of rocaille decoration. The frame is inscribed along the bottom "b. 1753 Lusurier d.1781 / Marquise de Rochambeau."

Catherine Lusurier (1753-1781) was a portrait artist who studied under Drouais. Greatly admired in her lifetime, Lusurier's career was cut short by her early death at age 28. The subject, Mademoiselle Jeanne Thérèse Tellès d'Acosta married M. le comte de Rochambeau in 1749. She was the daughter of Emmanuel Tellès d'Acosta, a minister to the King.

French

oil on canvas

gilt wood frame

25" x 21"

Purchase by The Preservation Society of Newport County, 2015.

PSNC.12665