ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the portraiture and patronage of that intimate friend: Marie Therese Louise de Savoie-Carignan, the princesse de Lamballe. It demonstrates that the early depictions of Lamballe as a docile and grieving princess were largely dictated by her father-in-law, an identity the princess subsequently shed when she assumed a professional role at court. The book also examines portraits executed during the princess's rise to political and social prominence and shows that her attachment to the queen and the length of time she spent in her company and service, together with her publicly visible roles as freemason and salonniere. It focuses on the princess's unknown anglophile inclinations and her private collections, library, and musical and literary patronage further reveal that Lamballe was an informed and cultivated female patron who operated at the very centre of Marie-Antoinette's circle.
