Marie Antoinette's

Beautiful painting! I've never seen it before. She looks exhausted though, must have been a lot of milking that day!

Oh, she is luscious and slightly disheveled. Is that a very small horse or a donkey? Donkey-size, but surely that's a horse's face? He (or she) is quite sweet.

The persimmon color of her skirt is gorgeous. Love this painting.

The persimmon is what drew me in instantly! She is a bit disheveled, she clearly has something to say...

Did it occur to anyone that this is no ordinary milkmaid?

Perhaps she is a lady who is a 'milkmaid' at Marie Antoinette's idealized farm next to her Petit Trianon?

I could see that. I truthfully have always found this aspect of court life pretty hard to take. I mean, if you were poor, limited in choices and HAD to milk for a living, to see these wealthy aristocrats swishing around in silk versions of your clothes, playing at what is work to you, you might want to see a few heads roll.

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This milkmaid looks so beautiful and angelic I thought for a moment she had been painted by Vigee-Lebrun. Thank you for sharing such a lovely image.

I had not seen this post before. This is lovely. Who painted it and who is the model - if she is one of the "milkmaids" at PT?

Aristocratic ladies had a habit during this period of posing as milk maids, laundry maids, and shepherdesses. I wonder if the model was one of those aristos? Lovely painting. - Vic

The model is Greuze's wife.