Portrait of Marie Louise (Gérard)

Portrait of Marie Louise is an 1812 portrait painting by François Gérard. It depicts Marie Louise, the Empress of France. A member of the House of Habsburg and daughter of Francis I of Austria, she became Napoleon's second wife in 1810. The following year she gave birth to a son Napoleon II. After the defeat of her husband she was made sovereign ruler of the Duchy of Parma. She is shown at full-length in ceremonial robes.

The work was exhibited at the Salon of 1812 at the Louvre in Paris. Gerard was a celebrated portraitist during the Napoleonic era, and his career continued to flourish following the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1815. He painted many members of the Bonaparte dynasty.^[1]

The original painting is now in Vienna, Marie Louise's home city. Several versions exist of the painting, as the image was widely replicated across Europe during the Napoleonic era. A notable copy is now in Fontainebleau Palace.^[2] A replica produced by Jean-Baptiste Paulin Guérin is in the Museum of French History at the Palace of Versailles.^[3]

An earlier 1810 head and shoulders portrait of Marie Louise is now in the Louvre in Paris.^[4]

• Portrait of Marie Louise (Borghesi), an 1839 portrait painting by the Italian artist Giovanni Battista Borghesi

• Palmer, Alan. Napoleon & Marie Louise: The Second Empress. Constable, 2001.