Portret van Marguerite Claude de Foissy 1736 - 1769

Jean-Charles François created this print of Marguerite Claude de Foissy sometime in the mid-18th century. The portrait is in profile and presented as an oval relief mounted on a rectangular plinth, all rendered with fine hatching. This trompe-l'oeil effect, combined with the sitter’s aristocratic bearing, presents the artwork as a kind of commemorative monument. Made in France, its classicizing form looks back to antiquity as a source of authority and social stability. France in this period was a highly stratified society, and portraiture became increasingly important to the cultural construction of class identity. Prints like this helped to disseminate such images beyond the circles of wealthy patrons, making them available to a wider public. To understand this image better, we might usefully consult collections of prints from the period, aristocratic memoirs, and histories of French art institutions like the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture.