Amable-Gabrielle de Noailles, Duchess de Villars, as Saint Genevieve

Amable-Gabrielle de Noailles, Duchess de Villars (1706-1742),¹ was a member of the female royal household of Queen Maria Leszczyńska, wife of Louis XV of France. She married Honoré-Armand, Duke de Villars (1702-1770) who, however, rarely lived with her. He embarked upon a military career, and became a member of the Académie Française and a patron of Voltaire. The Duchess de Villars was appointed dame du palais in 1727, and in 1742 she received the rank of dame d’atours,² which meant that she was responsible for dressing, hairstyling and applying the make-up of the queen. She played an important role at court, was considered brilliantly witty and was highly valued by the queen.
Her daughter, Amable-Angélique de Villars was the issue of a love affair with Jean-Philippe-François d’Orléans, an illegitimate son of Philippe I, Duc d'Orléans.
The theme of Arcadia as the setting of idyllic pastoral life had been adapted by literature since the Renaissance, and from the 16th century it appeared in painting. It also conquered the stage in the form of a pastoral play and opera. Playing at being shepherds was a cultural pastime at rococo courts, especially in France and Germany. It was an escape from the burden of courtly etiquette, and the shepherd’s way of life in close touch with nature was considered the ideal of a blithe existence, which was adapted in a stylised copy of pastoral life. In her portrait, the Duchesse de Villars combined this ideal with a religious one; she had herself painted as Saint Genevieve.
J. S. O.