Portrait of Marie-Gabrielle de Gramont, Comtesse de Caderousse

Vigée Le Brun was among the best known women painters of the 18th century. Like the Duchesse de Caderousse, who is portrayed in this portrait, she was charming and pretty, and became a personal friend of the French Queen Marie Antoinette (1755-1793). In her memoirs, Le Brun recalls persuading the Duchesse not to wear powder so as to show off her ebony black hair. In her role here as a peasant girl with a basket of fruit, the Duchesse reflects the fashion of rustic simplicity introduced by Marie Antoinette herself in her model farm at Versailles, the seat of the French court.