LabelThe sitter was the wife of Pajou's lifelong friend Charles de Wailly, a companion from student days in Rome. De Wailly, court architect to Louis XVI, had built neighboring houses for Pajou and himself, and Pajou executed busts of the architect and his wife. After her husband's death, Madame de Wailly married M. de Fourcroy, a medical doctor and chemist.

The portrait of Madame de Wailly displays the sculptor's gifts to best advantage. The solidity that characterizes his work is enlivened by an equally characteristic linearity, resulting in a brilliant eighteenth-century version of a Roman matron's portrait. The sense of dignity does not suppress the spirit of humor and intelligence that radiates from Madame de Wailly's fully mature countenance. This maturity is echoed in Pajou's handling of her torso, emphasized by the clinging cloth that partly exposes her chest and ample shoulders. The sinuous, weighty curls that frame her face and cascade over her shoulders are insistently sculptural, lending harmony and equilibrium to the work.

Signatures, Inscriptions, and MarkingsSignature: [on tranche, between shoulders]: PAJOU.F.1789

ProvenanceMme. Camille Lelong, Paris(until 1903); [Lelong sale, Galerie Georges Petit, May 1903, no. 298; sold to Princess Wagram]; Princesse de Wagram, Paris(from 1903); David David-Weill, Neuilly, Paris; Mrs. William Salomon, New York (until 1928); [Salomon sale, American Art AssociationNew York, Jan. 1928, no. 748]; J. Horace Harding, New York (until 1941); [J. Horace Harding coll. sale Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, March 1941, no. 68]; Baronne Cassel van Doorn, Englewood, N.J.(until 1956); [Baronne Cassel van Doorn sale, Galerie Jean Charpentier, Paris, 30 May 1056, no 75; sold to MMA]