Madame Grand by Elisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun

Madame Grand (Noël Catherine Vorlée, 1761 - 1835) c1783 by Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (1755 - 1842); known for her work in the Rococo and Neoclassical styles, and best known for her fashionable portraits This is a portrait of Noël Catherine Vorlée who was born to a French colonial family near Pondicherry, India; and who was the mistress of French diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, the first Prime Minister of France whom she would later marry in 1802; when Napoleon Bonaparte pressed Talleyrand to marry her. From the time of her marriage she was known as Catherine Noël Grand de Talleyrand-Périgord, Princesse de Bénévent; becoming a Princess when Talleyrand was made Prince of Benevento (a city and comune of Campania, Italy) in 1806. The painting shows her seated in a very large arm chair with with green velor padding, with her right forearm resting on a large green velor pillow while holding sheet music in her right hand, with her left forearm resting on her lap. The is wearing a silver coloured silk dress which is low and wide cut at the chest, with a large blue ribbon tied into a bow at the front, with a matching coloured ribbon tied into a bow on the top of her head flowing down the back of her head.