Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte, Duchess of Angoulême

The sitter, Marie‑Thérèse‑Charlotte, was a member of the French royal family, daughter of King Louis XV and later Duchess of Angoulême through marriage. The inscription emphasizes her royal lineage, linking her identity to the king. The calm demeanor and regal accessories convey the dignity and status expected of a high‑born woman during the waning years of the Ancien Régime, reflecting both personal portraiture and a broader assertion of aristocratic presence.

Executed by the hand of Augustin de Saint‑Aubin, the image employs traditional copper‑plate engraving. Fine, parallel lines create tonal gradations that model the facial features and fabric, while cross‑hatching suggests depth in the background and decorative border. The circular frame and integrated crown‑and‑flower motif illustrate the neoclassical taste for orderly composition and symbolic ornamentation prevalent in late‑eighteenth‑century French prints.

Augustin de Saint‑Aubin (1736–1807) belonged to a distinguished family of French designers and engravers. He produced this work amid the turbulent years preceding the French Revolution, a period when royal portraiture remained a means of affirming monarchical legitimacy. The print’s date, 19 December 1788, places it just months before the storming of the Bastille, marking it as a document of the final phase of royal patronage before the radical political transformations that followed.