Portrait of Maria Frederike van Reede-Athlone at Seven Years of Age

Jean-Étienne Liotard

1755–1756

Pastel, on vellum

J. Paul Getty Museum

A young girl with blonde hair tied with blue ribbons and a white headband is depicted in a blue velvet coat trimmed with white fur. She holds a small black dog in her arms. A young girl with blonde hair tied with blue ribbons and a white headband is depicted in a blue velvet coat trimmed with white fur. She holds a small black dog in her arms. Changing attitudes towards children and the emergence of a large middle class in eighteenth-century Europe increased the demand for portraits of children such as this one. Maria Frederike, the seven-year-old daughter of an aristocratic Dutch family, looks off to the side in a three-quarter view. Lost in thought, she is composed yet somewhat shy in comparison to her dog, who stares out with unabashed curiosity. With startling naturalism, Jean-Étienne Liotard captu