Portrait of a Woman as Astrea, Probably Mary Josephine Drummond, Condesa de Castelblanco

Largillière employs a smooth, luminous oil technique typical of early Rococo portraiture, rendering the silk fabrics and delicate skin tones with subtle gradations of light. The background features a stylized landscape of trees beneath a clear blue sky, providing a gentle contrast to the richly textured foreground. The painter’s handling of the staff and the dog demonstrates careful attention to detail while maintaining an overall graceful elegance.

Created during the height of Largillière’s career, the painting later entered the collection of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, where it remains on display. The artist, who later served as director of the Académie de Peinture et de Sculpture from 1733 to 1735, produced the work for a Spanish‑influenced aristocratic patron, reflecting the transnational networks of European nobility in the early eighteenth century.

The portrait reflects the early eighteenth‑century fascination with classical allegory, a trend that allowed patrons to align themselves with virtues embodied by mythological figures. By casting the Condesa as Astrea, the sitter signals both personal purity and her family’s elevated social standing. Largillière’s ability to blend portraiture with allegorical elements exemplifies the transitional aesthetics between the Baroque grandeur and the lighter, more decorative Rococo style.