MADAME DE LAVERDINE BY NATTIER, 1734

by Cabinet Turquin

Previously unknown, this beautiful feminine portrait seamlessly fits into Nattier's career alongside those of Marie-Elisabeth de Rouvray de Saint-Simon (1739, private collection) or the marquise Émilie du Châtelet (1743, location unknown). The model’s pose is similar. He creates a pyramidal composition of interlocking diamonds, the first one around her face and another drawn by her décolletage and the edges of the veil falling on her shoulders. The subtle movement of the latter gives originality to our painting. In the 1720s, Jean Raoux had made portraits of women dressed as vestal virgins fashionable. This was rather a counter-intuitive paradox, as young brides protecting their conjugal home were thereby likened to virgin Roman priestesses cultivating the sacred fire. With this painting, Nattier draws on that concept. He paints the model in a realistic way, without the use of any mythological travesty or his trademark "Nattier-blue", but by using a surprisingly dynamic color contrasting scheme. Probably meant to highlight the serene personality of the model, the soft shades used around her face, from pearly white and linden green tones to various shades of pink contrast starkly against her bright red coat trimmed with golden embroidery.

The inscriptions on the frame take us back to the 18th century Berry aristocracy. The model of this painting was the daughter of Pierre de Guillebon, Lord of Boissy, general lieutenant of the Dukedom of Orleans’ hunts, and Madeleine Guinebaud. Born in Bourges around 1713, Marie-Geneviève married Pierre Gaudart de Laverdine (1701-1765) in Orleans on July 14, 1729, with whom she had seven children: Marie-Anne, born in 1733; Françoise, born in 1734; Anne-Geneviève, born in 1735; Pierre, born in 1736; Étienne, born in 1737; Catherine, born in 1740; Benjamin, born in 1742; and Prosper (Gaudart de Verteuil), born in 1743 (according to the Gaudart family tree made by Antoine Gaudart on the Geneanet website).

The notoriety of her husband's family went back to the early 15th century, when the merchant Pierre Godart became a companion of Jacques Coeur. In 1678, Etienne Gaudart, merchant and alderman in Bourges, purchased the Seigneury of Verdines; owing to his position of Treasurer of France, he was knighted in 1689. His son, and in turn his grandson - Marie-Geneviève’s husband - inherited his position. The latter was also Commissioner of the Roads and Bridges Section for the Berry region and lived in the parish of Saint-Ursin in Bourges. Neoclassical painter Alphonse Gaudar de Laverdine (1780- 1804), Grand Prix de Rome in 1799, was our model’s grandson (in 1999, an exhibition of his work was presented in Châteauroux).

Nattier is the greatest portraitist of the Louis XV period.
Even though he had already been noticed by French King Louis XIV and Russian Tsar Peter the Great at the beginning of the 18th century, he didn’t give the full measure of his talent until the second part of the 18th century. The son of a painter, he was accepted into the Royal Academy in 1713 and became an elected member five years later.
In the 1730s, he painted many portraits depicting characters at half-length, such as this one, each time varying the pose or the composition. The great softness of his skin tones and his ability to represent textures and fabrics won him many customers. He thus became the official portraitist of the Orleans family. In the 1740s and 1750s, he made celebrated portraits of the royal family at Versailles.

JEAN-MARC NATTIER (Paris, 1685-1766)

Portrait de Marie-Geneviève Gaudart de Laverdine, 1734

Oil on canvas.
Signed on the right hand side "Nattier Pinxit/1734"
Old label on the back of the frame.

Height 81cm, Width 65 cm.
Carved and gilded frame, French work, Louis XV period.

Provenance : painting was kept by the family of the model, who gave us her identity.

A portrait of Marie Geneviève de Guillebon, wife of Gaudard de Laverdine, by Jean Marc Nattier. Canvas. Signed and dated 1734.