Marie Leszczyńska (1703–1768), attributed to Jean-Baptiste Van Loo

Marie Leszczyńska (1703–1768) was a Polish princess, the second daughter of Stanisław I Leszczyński and Catherina Opalińska, who was forced into exile at a very young age when her father was deposed from the Polish throne. Thanks to the support of the Regent, Philippe d’Orléans, the Princess of Poland took refuge in Strasbourg in 1720 with her parents. Marie Leszczynska received a thorough education: she was fluent in Polish, French, German and Latin, and proved to be agreat lover of music and painting.

The Regent died in 1723, leaving the Duke of Bourbon, cousin of the young Louis XV, in power. The Duke, having become Prime Minister, called off the planned marriage between the King of France and the Infanta Marie-Anne-Victoire of Spain. Little Marie-Anne-Victoire was too young to marry and bear the king’s children. King Louis XV’s repeated bouts of illness prompted a hasty marriage, and the choice ultimately fell on the Polish princess. This alliance did not please the French court, where some had envisaged a marriage to a European princess of higher rank. Nevertheless, this union promised the French crown the return of the Duchy of Lorraine upon the death of the future queen’s father.

The portrait of Louis XV’s future wife did not leave the King of France indifferent – Marie Leszczyńska is depicted with chestnut hair, a high forehead and lively brown eyes. The marriage was finally arranged (1725) and more than ten children were born within ten years, before the king abandoned her for the Marquise de Pompadour, the official favourite, who then became the most influential woman at the royal court.

A rare portrait of her in her youth is held in Stockholm (National Museum, Gripholm Castle) by the Swedish painter Johan Starbus, painted in 1712 when she was just 9 years old. Her youthful features can still be seen in the bust portrait at the Château de Bussy-Rabutin, painted in her youth, probably just before her marriage. The portrait is intimate, in contrast to the large ceremonial portraits in which she is depicted in regal style, such as the one by Alexis Simon Belle (1674–1734), dated 1726 and housed at the Palace of Versailles. The portrait from the studio of Jean-Baptiste van Loo (1684–1745), after Alexis-Simon Belle, held at the Blois Castle Museum, allows us to verify the accuracy of the rendering of the model’s facial features around 1725–1730.

In these ceremonial portraits, as in the full-length portrait by Jean-Baptiste Van Loo (1684–1745), the sovereign wears a brocade gown and a headdress richly adorned with pearls and precious stones. The rigid whalebone bodice, fitted and tapering to a point at the front, is more reminiscent of the ostentatious fashion of the 1680s, placing the portrait firmly within the tradition of ceremonial portraits under Louis XIV.

In Bussy’s portrait, only the blue cloak, adorned with fleurs-de-lis and ermine, hints at her connection to the royal house. She wears neither jewellery nor gemstones on her dress, but a silvery fabric embroidered with flowers, echoing her headdress. The whalebone corset is no longer tapered; a soft drape emphasises the waist, more in keeping with the fashion of the 1720s. A large lace ruff runs along the neckline. The sleeves are still short and puffed, revealing the lace-trimmed chemise. The understated black background brings out the radiance of the young woman’s complexion; she is probably on the eve of her marriage, depicted as a simple Flora, without affectation.  

The black background against which the subject stands out, the softly rendered complexion, and the shadow cast by the nose are characteristic of the portraits by Jean-Baptiste van Loo (1684–1745), a French painter born and raised into a dynasty of painters of Dutch origin. During the same period, he painted a portrait of King Louis XV (1723) as well as, around 1725, a full-length portrait of the Queen (Versailles, Château Museum) and numerous derivative versions (Geneva, Museum of Art and History). Jean-Baptiste van Loo was one of the Regent’s favourite painters, and Louis XV also admired him, commissioning two full-length portraits from him (1724 and 1727). He was admitted as an associate and then a full member of the Royal Academy of Painting in 1722 and 1731 respectively. The painter left for London between 1738 and 1742 and subsequently retired permanently to Aix. Jean-Baptiste trained his young and highly talented brother Charles-André (known as Carle), who was adored by Madame de Pompadour, as well as his two sons, Louis-Michel, who became the principal painter to the King of Spain, and Charles-Amédée, who would become the principal painter to the King of Prussia.

Georges Lafenestre, ‘The Portrait of Marie Leczinska by Carle Van Loo (Louvre Museum)’, Revue de l’art ancien et moderne, vol . II, September 1897, pp. 137–141.

Lucretia de Planta, ‘An Attempt to Reconstruct the Collection of Roger de Rabutin, Count of Bussy, at the Château de Bussy-le-Grand’, Master’s thesis, Paris IV-Sorbonne, 1989–1991, pp. 59–60, 64–66, 69, 72–73.

Xavier Salmon, ‘Speaking to the Soul and the Heart: Painting According to Marie Leszczynska’, exhibition catalogue, Château de Fontainebleau, 18 June–19 September 2011, Paris, Faton, 2011.

Jean-Baptiste-César, Count of Sarcus , *Historical and Descriptive Account of the Château de Bussy-Rabutin*, Dijon, 1854, p. 71.