Portrait of a lady with "à la Fontanges" hairstyle
Fine Arts
Inventory number
2021.6.10.1.FA.PA.C1710.FRDescription
Painting portrait of a middle-aged noble woman, represented with a black veil on white lace fontange headdress, wearing a golden brocade gown with vertical blue trim on the bodice, and fine lace trimming the neckline.A fontange, or frelange, is a female hairstyle created in France in the late 17th and early 18th century. It is a multi-storey headdress made of wire framework, on which was placed a series of starched laces separated by ribbons adorned with curls of hair that completely covered them. As the name tells itself, it was invented by Marie Angélique de Scorraille de Roussille, Duchess of Fontanges (1661-1681). Mistress of the king Louis XIV, while following him to the hunt, she disheveled by the wind and she raised her hair with the help of her garter. Louis XIV was so charmed that he begged her to do so every day.
Materials
Oil on canvasWood
Origin
circa 1710 FranceDimensions
Length : 56.5 cmHeight : 65.5 cm