Cardinal François de Fontanges, by Bernard d’Agesci (1756–1829)

The Fontanges family is one of the surviving families of the French nobility of chivalric descent, with evidence dating back to 1373, originally from Haute-Auvergne. The elder branch remained famous thanks to Marie Angélique de Scorailles, Duchess of Fontanges (1661–1681), who became a favourite of King Louis XIV.

A descendant of a younger branch, François de Fontanges (1744–1806) is remembered chiefly for having served as chaplain to Queen Marie-Antoinette at Versailles in 1774. He subsequently served as Bishop of Nancy from 1783 to 1787, Archbishop of Bourges from 1787 to 1788, and Archbishop of Toulouse from 1788 onwards. He remained there only briefly, however, as a few weeks later he was elected a deputy to the Estates-General representing the clergy of the seneschalsy of Toulouse, and left Toulouse for Versailles, where the Estates-General convened by Louis XVI were sitting. Not particularly supportive of the reforms of the Revolution, he sat on the right-hand side of the Constituent Assembly. He went into exile in London in 1792, where he recounted the flight to Varennes based on information confided to him by the Queen herself. On his return to France, he resigned from his archiepiscopal office in 1801, and was subsequently appointed Bishop of Autun in 1802.

Lynda and Stewart Resnick currently own in their collection in Los Angeles an interesting version of the portrait of Marie-Antoinette with the rose, in which the Queen’s dress is ‘London tallow’ (grey satin) in colour and not blue as in the portrait now on display at the Petit Trianon. It is said to have been presented by Marie-Antoinette to her Grand Chaplain, Monsignor François de Fontanges (1744–1806), Archbishop of Nancy and Primate of Lorraine in 1783. It remained in the de Fontanges family until the early^20th century, before being acquired by Baroness Elie de Rothschild (1916–2003) and subsequently by Lynda and Stewart Resnick.

Two^19th-century copies of the portrait of Cardinal François de Fontanges, wearing the archbishop’s robes with a buttoned cape in violet moiré, are held at the Rolin Museum in Autun. The Bernard d’Agesci Museum in Niort has recently acquired a very fine version of the cardinal depicted seated, the style of which is very similar to the portrait held at the Château d’Aulteribe.