Miniature portrait

The miniature is the reduced, half-length copy of the official portrait of the young queen. The wife of Louis XV appears in front of a wall joint by pilasters, wearing her full ceremonial dress. She wears a robe lined with ermine above the ''grand habit" the neckline and the sleeves of her blue, patterned dress have rich lacing. Artificial locks hang down on her shoulders from her powdered hair. She wears a tiara on her head, beaded earrings, and a pearl pendant. (In 1738/1740, the queen, though a bit stouter, was again painted in the same clothes by Louis Tocque. On this picture, now in the Louvre, she does not wear her tiara and earrings.) The unpainted ivory base stands for her pale skin.

There is an inscription, added later, on the back of the picture: Marie Princesse de Pologne / Reine de France / Et de Navarre / I. Chereau pinx. The frame is decorated with two large horns of plenty, as well as ribbon and shell motifs it is rather rough.

According to the inscription on the back of the miniature — painted by Jacques Chereau (1688-1776) — the picture was painted after the woodcut of Chereau (Le. Bl. 15). The portrait of Maria Leszczynska, modelled on the picture by Louis-Michel Van Loo, is considered to be the best piece of this not very talented artist. Earlier, the miniature was exhibited as an authentic piece by Chereau.