The daughter of Louis Vigée and Jeanne Maissin, Elizabeth Vigée was largely self taught, copying from Old Masters and studying the art available to her in private collections, artist's studios and Salon exhibitions in Paris. By the age of 19 she had become licensed as a master painter by the Académie de Saint Luc and shortly after, in 1776, she married the critic and dealer, Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Le Brun who promoted her career and advanced their social aspirations. Though barred from inclusion in the Académie Royal de Peinture et de Sculpture due to her husband's profession, her association with Marie-Antoinette, whom she painted first in 1778, led to the Queen's personal intervention, and in 1783 she secured entry by Royal command, exhibiting for the first time in the August Salon. Between 1783-9 she exhibited more than 40 portraits and historical compositions at the Académie's biannual Salon. However, from 1786 her association with the members of the aristocracy who she painted and whose society she frequented lead to false accusations of philandering and to moral and ethical attacks on her character in the press and in private correspondence. The political climate enhanced her feelings of insecurity and her personal reputation was again attacked following the publication in 1789 of fictitious correspondence in which she was again accused of an affair with the minister of Finance, Charles Alexandre de Calonne (whom she painted in 1784). She fled to Rome in October of that year with her daughter, intending to return once the troubles were over, but remained in exile in Europe for the next twelve years. She amassed a large personal fortune through her work in the courts of Austria, Russia, Germany, England and Italy, retiring in comfort in France after her return in 1805.

The present painting, which was inscribed on the back of the original canvas 'original de Mme LeBrun donné par Le Roi Louis XVIII en 1815 à M Le Marquis de Crux ancien écuyer commandant l'écurie de la Reine Mdme La Duchess de Provence', was executed during her most creative and productive years. It dipicts Louise of Savoy, daughter of Victor Amedée III, King of Sardinia who married Louis-Stanislau- Xavier, Comte de Provence, later King Louis XVIII of France (1814-1824) on May 14, 1771.

In a Louis XIV carved and gilded frame.