Object Image

An Unknown Lady in a Hat

This painting shows similarities to the portraits of Marianne Loir. The sitter has not been identified. However, the fashionable hat suggests it was an aristocratic lady who followed the trends set by Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, and her circle in the early 1780s.

The signed late 18th-century frame is not original to the portrait. The painting and the frame were probably put together in the late 19th century to make a more saleable piece. This led scholars to question whether it was actually a 19th-century painting of a generic late 18th-century French woman made specifically to fit into this important oval frame. However, the work is now believed to be by Loir.

Marianne Loir came from ...

1780s
Oil on canvas
803.0 x 645.0mm
879
Images and text © Waddesdon Manor, 2017

Where you'll find this

Waddesdon Manor
Permanent collection