Sophie de Tott's portrait of Comtesse de Tessé





This portrait in oils of Adrienne, Comtesse de Tessé, the foster mother of Sophie de Tott, was reproduced in the late François Schlumberger's book Chaville et Viroflay, published in 1997. It portrays her in a very sympathetic manner, as a thoughtful, gentle and sensitive person. She is dressed in a delicate shade of cream with trimmings of pale salmon pink. The light seems to bathe her in an almost golden hue, allowing the gown and her skin to blend into each other without any harsh boundaries. We know that Mme de Tessé was not considered beautiful but the portrait depicts her as gracious and kind. There is something relaxed and informal about her posture that is very pleasing and gives the impression that we are meeting her on intimate terms.

Schlumberger said that the original painting was at the time of publication in the private collection of a certain Monsieur Léotard, a descendant of the family of the Comte de Mun, a close friend of the Tessé family. M. Léotard was living in Paris in 1997, and owned some letters of Mme de Tessé. Was he connected to or even identical with François Léotard (b.1942) the French Minister for Defence and author of several books?

We know from other sources that one of de Tott's paintings of Mme de Tessé was in the possession of the de Mun family until the mid-twentieth century and that the portrait in question showed her holding a sword across her knees.


There is a miniature painting in existence that shows Sophie de Tott in the act of painting a portrait of Mme de Tessé which could very well be this one. The head is shown wearing a veil and while Mme de Tessé may always have worn one, and the angle shown does not quite accurately correspond to the inclined head in the full size portrait there is enough resemblance to take this as confirmation that the Léotard portrait is the one painted by Sophie de Tott in about 1782.

It would be nice to know exactly where this painting now is, who owns it, and whether they can confirm the attribution. Perhaps they can even provide a better quality reproduction than this one, which I found on the website of ARCHE (Association pour Recherche sur Chaville, son Histoire et ses Environs).

So, if anyone knows anything about this painting, or if anyone is acquainted with the Léotard family, they are welcome to get in touch.



François Schlumberger, author of Chaville et Viroflay, who died in 2012.



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