Madame de Pompadour

portrait

The son of a painter, Hubert Drouais, François-Hubert became a successful portraitist at the French court. He was especially fashionable for his likenesses of aristocratic children dressed as gardeners or Savoyard beggars to emphasise their 'natural' or 'filial' characters (little Savoyard hurdy-gurdy players brought their earnings back every year to their mothers in the Haute Savoie). This sumptuous portrait of Madame de Pompadour, Louis XV's mistress, similarly employs the imagery of bourgeois virtue and industry to flatter a great lady.

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About the Artist

François-Hubert Drouais

1727 – 1775

French portrait painter. He trained under Boucher (among others) and became a rival to Nattier as a fashionable portraitist. His portraits have a gracious and artificial charm and at their best bear comparison with those of Boucher. He was particularly successful with children, but his best known painting is probably the very grand portrait of Mme Pompadour in the National Gallery, London (1763-64), completed after the sitter's death. His father, Hubert (1699-1767) and his son, Germain (1763-1788) were painters.

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