Madame Royale Cared for by Doctor Brunier, January 24, 1793
Mallet here depicts a poignant scene of the incarceration of the royal family during the Terror. The king, Louis XVI had been guillotined 3 days earlier. The doctor who took care of the children of the royal family, Pierre Edouard Brunier, visits the prison to care for the swollen foot of Marie-Thérèse, called ‘Madame Royale.’ The fourteen-year-old girl sits at the center, clad in white, with a portrait miniature of her father hanging from a chain around her neck. Just alongside sits her mother, the Austrian-born queen, Marie-Antoinette, who would be executed later that year. The cold gray stone of the walls and ceiling and the simple wooden furniture stand in stark contrast to the sumptuous furnishings of Versailles that the family had been forced to leave behind.
Artwork Details
- Title: Madame Royale Cared for by Doctor Brunier, January 24, 1793
- Artist: Jean-Baptiste Mallet (French, Grasse 1759–1835 Paris)
- Medium: Gouache
- Dimensions: Sheet: 14 3/16 × 20 11/16 in. (36 × 52.5 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Harry G. Sperling Fund, 2018
- Object Number: 2018.575
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
More Artwork
Research Resources
The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.