Mademoiselle Clairon.

A half length portrait, enclosed in an oval, of the celebrated tragic actress Claire Josèphe Hippolyte Léris de la Tude (1723-1803), known as Mademoiselle Clairon. She looks in profile to the right, wearing a fur trimmed fichu, and striped headdress, with a diamond half moon clasp. The illegitimate daughter of a seamstress, she is chiefly famous for the number and wealth of her lovers, and her revolutionary acting technique. In collaboration with her lover the playwright Marmontel, she abandoned stylized delivery and contemporary dress in favour of a naturalistic delivery of lines and accurate historical costumes. She retired at the age of forty two, but having lost all her money during the Revolution, succeeded in taking first the Margrave of Anspach as her lover and subsequently the aged M. de Stael, whom she later sued for her pension.