Portrait miniature of Empress Marie-Louise, enamel on cooper, 1st Qtr 19th century

Description

Portrait of Empress Marie Louise, enamel on copper, wear a ruby tiara and necklace, French School, c. 1810–1815, after the portrait by Jean-Baptiste Isabey.

History & Context

This enamel-on-copper portrait of Empress Marie-Louise (1791–1847) derives from the celebrated portrait type established by Jean-Baptiste Isabey following her marriage to Napoleon in 1810. Isabey, one of the foremost miniaturists of the Imperial court and subsequently Marie-Louise’s drawing master, portrayed the new Empress on several occasions; his 1810 images show her in the magnificent jewellery associated with her marriage, including a diamond-and-ruby diadem and necklace supplied by the imperial jeweller François-Regnault Nitot. In the present version, Marie-Louise appears in formal court dress, crowned by the jewelled diadem and wearing a pendant at her breast, creating an image intended to proclaim both her new imperial status and the dynastic union between the Bonaparte and Habsburg houses. The use of enamel on copper translated the delicacy of the painted miniature into a more permanent and durable medium; comparable portrait enamels were being produced in Paris during the Empire, including works connected with Isabey and his circle. As an image after Isabey, this miniature belongs to the wider dissemination of officially sanctioned portraits through which the likeness of Napoleon’s second Empress circulated at court and beyond, while retaining the intimate scale and jewel-like finish characteristic of Napoleonic portrait miniatures.

Additional photographs