Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
You can make the difference as we come to the end of our fiscal year. Make your donation today to support the classical music programming you enjoy on The Classical Network every day. Thank you for your support of great music!

Portrait of French Countess Heads for Minneapolis

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA) has acquired a rare, and even more rarely seen, oil painting from the mid-18th century. The rococo portrait of Comtesse d'Egmont Pignatelli was completed in 1763 by Swedish-born painter Alexander Roslin. It is now on view at the institute's recently renovated galleries.

Known for her beauty and intelligence, the countess was a key figure in the court of King Louis XV.

Roslin, who settled in Paris in 1752, quickly established himself as a fashionable and technically skilled portraitist in the king's court.

Curator Patrick Noon talks about the significance of the acquisition, considered one of the masterpieces of 18th-century French portraiture. The painting has been on public view only four times in the last 250 years; the MIA acquired the painting from New York's Wildenstein & Co. Noon says the painting has already been requested for several exhibitions, including a major Roslin retrospective in Stockholm.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.