According to Ezekiel Spanheim, tutor to the son of the Elector of Palatine, the sitter, the daughter of the Comte de Roussille of Auvergne, came to the court of Louis XIV in 1677 as Maid of Honour to Madame, Duchesse d'Orleans, with the conscious determination to make the King her lover: 'Her youth, her beauty, such as had not been seen at Versailles for a long time, and a figure, bearing and appearance capable of surprising a Court so concerned with gallantry and romance soon produced the effect she had intended, despite the fact that her mind was dull and her opinions terribly provincial'(Relation de la cour de France, Paris, 1900). She was eventually replaced in the King's favours by Madame de Maintenon, the King's relationships at this time being succinctly summed-up by La Beaumelle: 'The King gave himself to Mlle. de Fontanges through human weakness; he returned to Mlle. de Montespan though habit; and allowed himself to be drawn, through personal preference, to Mme. de Maintenon' (Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de Mme. de Maintenon, Amsterdam, 1755)