Portrait of Marie-Louise Joubert, née Poulletier de Perigny

Executed in the Rococo idiom, the painting employs a soft palette and delicate modeling to convey texture and volume. Fabre’s handling of light creates subtle contrasts that give the figure a three‑dimensional presence, while the background foliage is suggested with loose brushwork that recedes without distracting from the sitter.

François‑Xavier Fabre, a pupil of Jacques‑Louis David, completed the portrait after winning the Prix de Rome in 1787 and relocating to Florence amid revolutionary turmoil. The painting remained in private hands, linked to the Joubert family, before entering the museum’s collection in the early twentieth century.

The portrait reflects the lingering taste for Rococo refinement in the late eighteenth century, even as neoclassical ideals were gaining prominence. Fabre’s training under David provided him with a classical foundation, yet this work demonstrates his ability to adapt that education to the lighter, decorative sensibilities favored by his patron.