Madame Marsollier and Her Daughter
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
57 1/2 x 45 in. (146.1 x 114.3 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Florence S. Schuette, 1945
Accession Number
45.172
Tags
Art Historical Context
Jean-Marc Nattier’s *Madame Marsollier and Her Daughter* (1749) captures an intimate moment between a mother and child in mid-eighteenth-century France. Painted in oil on canvas, the nearly life-size portrait reflects the Rococo period’s emphasis on elegance, softness, and refined domesticity. Nattier, a favorite court painter under Louis XV, specialized in flattering likenesses of aristocratic women, often infusing his works with luminous skin tones and delicate fabrics that celebrated both beauty and status. The composition highlights the close bond between the sitters, with the young girl ...