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This famous Fragonard canvas from the early 1770s is often read not as a portrait but as a genre scene. The elegant blue dress, lace cap, and coiffure of the woman seated at her writing table must have been the height of fashion at the time this painting was made. But the inscription on the letter she holds has given rise to different interpretations. It may simply refer to her cavalier, but if it is read as Cuvillere, then the sitter would be the daughter of François Boucher, Fragonard's teacher. Marie Émilie Boucher, born in 1740, was widowed in 1769 and married, in 1773, her father's friend, the architect Charles Étienne Gabriel Cuvillier.
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P.S. Here are 7 things you need to know about Jean-Honoré Fragonard!