Marie Gabrielle Capet copied various paintings by her teacher Adélaide Labille-Guiard in miniature format, including this portrait of a lady which may show Marie Adrienne Françoise de Noailles, Marquise de La Fayette.¹ This practice reflects the good cooperation between the two artists perfectly: Labille-Guiard, who was much appreciated as a portrait painter in her time, created a representative large-format portrait in oil on canvas, and Capet copied it in the much more practical miniature format.At the age of almost twenty Capet, who was from a modest Lyon family, arrived in Labille-Guiard’s studio where the latter instructed young ladies in oil, pastel and miniature portrait painting. Capet was one of her favourite students which explains why she and her friend Mlle Carreaux de Rosemond are represented in Labille-Guiard’s large self-portrait from 1785.² Capet was allowed to live in her teacher’s house on the Rue de Richelieu and later moved with her into the new flat in the Louvre. Even after Labille-Guiard’s marriage to the successful artist André Vincent, Capet continued to live with them. Though Capet shows extraordinary skill in her oil, pastel and miniature paintings, she did not attain her teacher’s powerful creation and artistic genius.

Marie Adrienne Françoise de Noailles (1759-1807) came from one of the most influential families in France. At the age of fifteen she married the Marquis de La Fayette (Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert de Motier), who later became a glowing supporter of the American independence movement and of the new ideas in the early years of the French Revolution. He was involved in the drafting of the bill of human rights and successfully led the Revolutionary troops. However, radical members of the party sentenced him to death for his support of the threatened royal family, but he escaped to America.

B. P.

The Tansey Miniatures Foundation

The Tansey Miniatures Foundation