| ||
 The first CD cover and booklet for the Jacquet de la Guerre Ensemble Variations recording (ACCORD 205 782, 1997) included detail reproductions of a newly discovered portrait of Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre (1664-1729) by Françoise de Troy. Subsequently a number of CD albums (Carole Cerasi, Harpsichord Suites, etc.) have included the portrait, so that the early music community is now gifted with a marvellous visage of this fine female Baroque composer. Following are the notes by Françoise Getreau on the painting:
Has the Portrait of "Dominique Brême, an art historian specializing in French portraits, believes he has been able to recognize Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre in the splendid effigy by Françoise de Troy (1645-1730). This admirable work was doubtless executed whilst the composer was at the height of her fame, and we are inclined to believe that this is probably the painting which was displayed at the Painting Exhibition at the Louvre in the summer of 1704: the booklet notes 'Madame de la Guette' (sic).
| ||
Early Music Women Composers CD Discography » » www.earlywomenmasters.net » » |
"Just before her death, the musician had made a point of dictating her will, in which she bequeathed her three portraits to her nephews. One of them does appear in the post-mortem inventory, as does the instrument we see in this painting, a 'large Flemish dual-keyboard harpsichord' which we see located in a salon which doubtless served as a dining room. It attests to the Parisian taste of the time for instruments built in Antwerp, a trend which began in the 17th century with the great musicians of the first French harpsichord school."