Françoise de Châlus, Duchesse de Narbonne (after Labille Guiard)

The lady in her bright purple dress had previously been mistakenly named as Mme Adélaïde, daughter of Louis XV¹ but can now be identified as the Duchesse de Narbonne by the use of comparative portraits.² Capet obviously took a painting by her teacher Labille-Guiard as reference, yet made the model look younger by alleviating the double chin and by creating a friendlier expression.

Françoise de Châlus was born the daughter of Gabriel de Chalus, Seigneur de Sansac in 1734. In 1749 she married Jean-François de Narbonne-Lara, who lived at the court of Parma in the entourage of the infant Philip of Bourbon-Spain. When she was sixteen she gave birth to her first son Philip, and five years later to her son Louis. He allegedly possessed such a striking resemblance to Louis XV that he received the nickname Demi-Louis (half Louis) and was said to be the King’s son. The Duchesse de Narbonne later moved to the court of Versailles as Mme Adélaïde’s lady-in-waiting. She survived the French Revolution in exile in Italy, but returned to France in 1811, where she died ten years later.

In 1787, the same year as Mme Adélaïde, the Duchesse de Narbonne probably had her portrait painted by Labille-Guiard; in any case both paintings were exhibited in the Paris Salon of that year. Capet’s miniature was presumably created shortly afterwards. Marie-Gabrielle Capet owed several commissions from the royal family to her teacher. It was not until the revolutionary period that she herself emerged as an independent and self-assured portrait paintress.

B. P.