Marie-Antoinette de Lorraine-Habsbourg, Queen of France, and her children, Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun
In this propaganda painting exhibited at the 1787 Salon in the Louvre, Vigée-Lebrun takes as a model Giulio Romano's Madonna della Gatta and begins the painting on 9 July 1786. The painter is careful not to represent a necklace on the queen wearing a red velvet dress bordered with a marten, with a skilful drape, and a scarlet velvet beret stuffed. She holds on her lap her penultimate child, Louis-Charles dressed as a girl, her head wearing a cap and her arms gesturing, her general attitude giving the impression of solid vitality, which is confirmed by contemporary testimonies. Little Maria Theresa affectionately places her head on her right shoulder, while the dolphin surrounds the empty cradle covered with a black pancake with a protective arm, to remind the public of Marie-Sophie Beatrice's recent death. The wardrobe, which serves as a jewelry holder and is decorated with fleurs-de-lis, glows in the dark.
