Augusta Marie Jeanne of Baden-Baden, Duchess of Orléans, by Alexis Simon Belle

The House of Orléans believed that the heir apparent to Louis XV, should he die, would be the Duke of Orléans (1703–1752), the son of the late Regent, who needed to be married off as soon as possible. Augusta Marie Jeanne of Baden-Baden was chosen to become the wife of the Duke Louis d’Orléans, cousin of King Louis XV of France. The princess had the advantage of being the legitimate daughter of a reigning Catholic prince, Margrave Louis-Guillaume of Baden, a hero of the war against the Turks.  

Her mother, who had been acting as regent for her son since her husband’s death, saw her daughter’s marriage to the Duke of Orléans in 1724 as a means of forging an alliance with her powerful French neighbour, whose troops had nevertheless ravaged the margraviate during the War of the Spanish Succession. During the brief period of their marriage – the Duchess dying prematurely whilst giving birth to her second child in 1726 – the couple were very devoted to one another and resided mainly at the Château de Saint-Cloud.

Alexis-Simon Belle was appointed the official court painter to the Duchess of Orléans. He was entrusted with commissions from the court at Versailles because he was already the court painter to the deposed King of England, James III Stuart, who was in exile at Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Indeed, his former master, François de Troy (1645–730), had called him to his side so that he could execute the paintings commissioned from him.

Stylistically, Belle adhered to the key principles established by his famous predecessors, François de Troy, Hyacinthe Rigaud and Nicolas de Largillière, but he tempered their effects: the drapery is less ethereal than Rigaud’s, and the colour scheme less sophisticated than Largillière’s.

He developed a sober and detached style, somewhat rigid, no doubt influenced by his training under François de Troy. In the portrait of Augusta Marie Jeanne of Baden-Baden, the pose is extremely stiff and strictly adheres to the conventions of royal portraiture, much like the portrait of Marie Leszczyńska and the Dauphin, housed at the Palace of Versailles.

However, in the rendering of the face, some realistic features remain: whilst the complexion is that of a radiant young woman, the hooked nose and the drooping underside of the chin show that a concern for realism is still present. This compromise likely appealed to the patron. Several copies of this portrait of Augusta Marie Jeanne of Baden-Baden were painted by Alexis Simon Belle, as evidenced by the portraits that have appeared at public auction (Christie’s auction, United Kingdom, 12 July 2021, and Drouot auction, Paris, 23 June 2003).