Archduchess Marie Antoinette, Dauphine of France

Marie Antoinette is depicted in the year of her marriage at the age of 15. As wife of the French dauphin the later queen carried the traditional title dauphine. This marble bust was commissioned by Marie Antoinette's father-in-law King Louis XV as a present to her mother Empress Maria Theresa. Lemoyne, Court sculptor to the King, worked at the bust for over a year before he was able to present it in Versailles on September 15th, 1771. Louis XV and the art critics of the day celebrated the bust as the most important work of the aged artist. The graceful, elegant fluidity of the lines and the vivid physical likeness achieved inspite of intended idealisation make this sculpture a perfect example of the aristocratic taste of that period.