Nicolas de LARGILLIERRE (Paris, 1656 - 1746)

Bears an inscription on the back of the canvas: "Marie Adelaide of Savoy, Duchess of Burgundy, then Dauphine, eldest daughter of Victor Amédée II, Duke of Savoy, then King of Sicily and then of Sardinia, and of Anne Marie of Orléans, born on December 6, 1685, married on December 7, 1697 to Louis de France Duke of Burgundy, then Dauphin; died at Versailles on February 12, 1712"

Top left, red wax seal with the coat of arms of the Bourbon Restoration (1815-1830); stenciled mark of the Louis-Philippe collections; L.P.I fire mark on the central crosspiece of the frame and annotated in pen on the frame "purchased at the sale of the Palais Royal by the Duke of Vienna"

Top right, inventory number in stencil: n°199 bis (collection of the Château d’Eu in 1824)

On the frame, an old label from the Garde Meuble Public Bedel & Cie 17 rue Monsigny under n°77231;

Provenance:

· Collection of Louis Philippe, H.S.H. Monseigneur the Duke of Orléans at the Château d’Eu, 1824, under n°199 ter

· Collection of the king at the Château d’Eu, 1836, under number 298 or 298 bis

· France, private collection

The hypothesis identifying our sitter is not a speculative one.
The few known portraits of the young woman, held in both public and private collections, along with the titles under which the work was recorded in royal collections during the 19th century, support this attribution.

A princess of the blood, Marie-Adélaïde belonged to the illustrious bicentennial House of Savoy. The eldest of eight children, she was the instrument of a long-matured matrimonial project devised by her father, Victor Amadeus II. Her brief Piedmontese childhood and early education were directed towards French culture.
Taking part in the League of Augsburg against the Kingdom of France, Victor Amadeus was first defeated in 1690 at the Battle of Staffarda, and again in 1693 at the Battle of Marsaglia. These defeats forced him to sign a separate peace in 1696. To secure a lasting alliance with France, the king decided to unite his daughter Marie-Adélaïde with the Bourbons. The following year, the 14-year-old girl travelled to Versailles.

Known for her wit and fondness for dance, theatre, and music, she delighted the court, Louis XIV, and Madame de Maintenon with her cheerful spirit, her gracious manners, and her non-conformity.
From her marriage to Louis of France, Duke of Burgundy and grandson of Louis XIV, was born in 1710 Louis, Duke of Anjou, the future Louis XV.
Marie-Adélaïde thus emerged as an emblematic figure at court at the turn of the century, where her brief life helped seal the dynastic fate of the kingdom by producing an heir. In fact, barely two years after Louis’s birth, the young woman and her husband both died prematurely at Versailles, carried off by a measles epidemic.

If we date our portrait to around 1700, the young Marie-Adélaïde would likely have been about 15 years old. The portraits of the princess by Largillière in 1705 (ill. 1) and Pierre Gobert in 1710 (ill. 2) support this assumption.
Depicted half-length and slightly turned three-quarters, she is carefully made up to highlight her blue eyes and pearly complexion. Her hair is styled in the so-called Fontange fashion, with a few jewels securing her curled hair. Beneath a cascade of drapery, we see a so-called volante gown with split sleeves, fashionable in the first half of the century. Half-open in the front, it is made of blue silk satin, revealing a white boned bodice embroidered with gold thread—an emblematic combination of royal colours.

"They spoke only of his skill in painting Ladies,
whose graces, far from diminishing, gained greatly in his hands."

Combining preciousness and elegance, Largillierre was admired in France for the stylistic renewal he brought to the art of portraiture: his Anglo-Flemish training taught him, in particular, to master striking colour contrasts between fabrics and the whiteness of flesh, approaching a naturalistic imitation.
For the execution of our portrait, Largillierre displays, at his highest level of refinement, his ability to convey French distinction through the youthful ardour and restrained charm of his sitter.

Just emerging from childhood, the young woman is depicted in perfect frontality against a dark background that casts all the light on her face and instantly creates the theatrical effect of an official portrait. The generous use of this brilliant blue, obtained by blending powdered lapis lazuli pigments, recalls both the preciousness and costly nature of the commission.
The exceptional character of this canvas underscores the strategic importance of the official portrait.
It presents the public image of the young Savoyard princess newly integrated into the French court, whose destiny would prove decisive for the monarchy, as she would give birth to the future Louis XV.