Portrait of Hyacinthe Gabrielle Roland

This portrait shows the influence of Rubens on Mme Vigée Lebrun and the direct connection here with the portrait of the artist's wife, Helene Fourment in a Fur Coat is apparent.

Hyacinthe-Gabrielle Roland was of modest origins, the daughter of Pierre Roland and Hyacinthe-Gabrielle Daris. It is uncertain where she met her future husband, the Earl of Mornington (later Marquess Wellesley), but it has been suggested that they encountered each other in the Palais Royal. When Vigée painted her portrait, Mlle Roland and Lord Mornington had already lived together as man and wife for six years and she was the mother of three children.