Portrait of Demoiselle Françoise Theveneau. Daughter of a king’s adviser, royal notary and prosecutor, she was born on November 1, 1748 in Arnay-le-Duc, Côte d’Or, Burgundy. She was the sister of Charles Theveneau de Morande (1741-1805), famous journalist of the sensationalist press, blackmailer and spy, imprisoned in the Bastille on the orders of Louis XV, and Lazare Jean Theveneau, king’s secretary, captain of the navy and friend and secretary of Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799), the famous playwright, author among others of the Marriage of Figaro and the Barber of Seville. She lived her entire life in her
hometown, never married and died on December 14, 1815, aged 67.
Françoise Theveneau is represented holding a book in her hands and a rose of the same colour as the ribbons that adorn the headdress that covers her wig. This oil on canvas portrait was painted in 1790. There is an inscription on the back of the canvas, in French: “Portrait of Miss Françoise Theveneau, born in Arnay le Duc on November 1, 1743 to Mr. Louis Theveneau notary and Dame Philiberte Belin”.
Artist: Pierre Jouffroy (1718-1796).
Signed and dated on lower right.
Medium: Oil on canvas.
Condition: Very good, recently cleaned.
Dimensions: 64 x 53 cm. / 25 ¼ x 28 ¾ in.
Frame: 70 x 59 cm. / 27 ½ x 23 ¼ in. Original gilt wood, restored.
Origin: France.