Alexander Roslin

Portrait of a lady, said to be Mlle Bourgevin de Linas, as a Vestal Virgin
The beautiful portrait created by the Swedish artist Alexander Roslin most likely depicts the beautiful Mademioselle Bourgevin the Linas and is dated in 1756. From the beginning of the 1750’s Roslin mainly lived and work in Paris. He had only three years earlier been elected as a member of the prestigious Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture and his success in France the following decades is well documented. He exhibited his works at the Salon, and in all probability was the current painting shown there in 1759, then named "Le Portrait de Madame *** habillée a grecque".
His clients were primarily the French society but he also, in several times, portrayed the French royal family as well as foreign princes and monarchs. Roslin's enormous success came about because, in addition to being a skilled describer of character in the persons he portrayed, he had an exceptional talent for image composition and especially the stuff paintings. His models were beautified according to the ideals of the time and soon orders poured in.
For the representation of women in rococo portraits the artists mainly got inspiration from literature. Ancient mythological tales as well as contemporary philosophy influenced the pictures. Everything was carefully planned - the pose, what gestures and what attributes to use was selected and had largely to do with the social status the person had in the society. The virtuous ideal of women could be symbolically told by attributes and symbols. Portraits with ladys as goddesses or shepherdesses had great popularity at the time. Ladys portrayed as Vestals is part of that tradition and their popularity was great during the Rococo.
The six lady priests in ancient Rome called Vestals guarded the goddess Vesta's Temple and made sure the fire never went out. They were carefully selected high-born people and lived a privileged life but with strict rules of chastity. In the 18th Century the Vestals were symbols of innocence and purity not unlike earlier times the religious representations of saints and martyrs but the paintings could also have a more general importance of the specific woman's character without frivolity and vanity of virtue, a care for others and high education.
Like the artist Jean-Baptiste Oudry with his famous painting Le Canard blanc from 1753 Roslin has in the current portrait outdone himself with the interpretation of all the shades of white. From the skin of Mademoiselle Bourgevin the Linas neck and chest, her shimmering veil, the pearls in her hair to the dress in silk - this portrait is a symphony of all shades of white.