Princess Thèrése of France - The Penultimate Daughter of King Louis XV of France & Queen Maria Leszczyńska

 

Posthumous portrait of Princess Thérèse, by
Jean-Marc Nattier (1748).

Princess Thérèse of France was born on 16 May 1736 at the Palace of Versailles in Versailles, Yvelines, France. She was the seventh daughter and ninth child of King Louis XV of France and his wife, Queen Maria Leszczyńska. King Louis XV was the son of Louis, Duke of Burgundy, and Marie Adélaïde of Savoy. Maria Leszczyńska was the daughter of Stanisław I Leszczyński and Countess Catherine Opalińska. Since birth, Thérèse had six siblings: Élisabeth, Henriette, Louis, Adélaïde, Victoire, and Sophie. Two siblings, a sister and a brother, died in childhood before the birth of Thérèse: Marie Louise and Philippe. In 1737, one year after the birth of Thérèse, her mother gave birth to one more daughter, Louise.

Because of the expenses of the king's official mistress, Louise Julie de Mailly-Nesle, Cardinal Fleury, the king's chief minister, sent Thérèse and her sisters Victoire, Sophie, and Louise to the Abbey of Fontevraud. Adélaïde was to be sent, also, but, due to her pleas, she was never sent.

It was on 6 June 1738 that their official journey to Fontevraud from Versailles began. The journey would last thirteen days, with eight coaches and two chaises and twenty wagons filled with luggage. When the sisters arrived, they were greeted by the abbess in all white, alongside four singing girls. While at Fontevraud, the sisters were largely taught music and dancing.

Thérèse was described as a sickly child. Her governess claimed that it was most likely due to the warm climate. In mid-September 1744, Thérèse fell ill with smallpox. She was baptised on 27 September, with the names Marie Thérèse Félicité. A day later, on 28 September, Thérèse succumbed to the disease. She was only eight years old, and hadn't seen her parents since 1738, when she was two years old.

In 1748, Jean-Marc Nattier was sent to the Abbey of Fontevraud to paint portraits of Thérèse's sisters, Victoire, Sophie and Louise. It could have also been during this time that Nattier painted a posthumous portrait of Thérèse. David Luders may have also painted a posthumous portrait of Thérèse in 1745.

Possible posthumous portrait of Thérèse
in c. 1745, by David Luders.