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Primary sourcePainting1775

Portrait of Marie-Antoinette of Austria

Jean-Baptiste André Gautier-Dagoty · 1775

A 1775 formal portrait of Marie Antoinette as queen, painted as a gift for her mother, Empress Maria Theresa.

This official coronation-era portrait, which the queen disliked, shows the image France projected of its new queen.

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Full-length oil painting of a seated woman in a pale blue silk gown with white fur-trimmed royal mantle, tall powdered hair topped with white plumes, resting her hand on a terrestrial globe on a draped red table beside a crown and open book, with red velvet drapery behind.
Jean-Baptiste André Gautier-Dagoty, Portrait of Marie-Antoinette of Austria, 1775. Musée de l'Histoire de France.

About this source

What it is

This full-length portrait by Jean-Baptiste André Gautier-Dagoty, painted in 1775, shows Marie Antoinette as the new queen of France, wearing an ermine-lined cloak decorated with the fleur-de-lis. It was intended as a gift for her mother, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, and is now held in the collection connected to the Palace of Versailles.

Why it matters

This is an official image of Marie Antoinette made soon after she became queen, showing the royal symbols of France rather than her personal taste. The queen herself disliked this kind of formal depiction and later preferred the paintings of Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, showing how royal portraits were as much about political image-making as personal likeness.

Look closer

  • What symbols of royal power can you spot in the painting, and what do they represent?
  • Why might this portrait have been sent to her mother in Austria specifically?
  • Why do you think the queen disliked this style of portrait?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Marie Antoinette on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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