Madame de la Châtre,
Ally of the Duc d’Orleans
“Her virtue wasn’t of the sort that men
Found depressing.” In the oil portrait by
Vigée Le Brun no hint of Magdalene
The sinner smears the oils. No winking, sly
Insinuation that madame was like
The bishop of Autun, that Talleyrand,
In looseness or hypocrisy. No strike
Of brush implies she was no parangon
De vertu—which is just as well. This whore
Steadfastly, utterly devoted to
Le duc became his daughter’s guarantor
And thus the painting is an aperçu.
..Her loyalty and this security
….Explain her white, painterly purity.
Or maybe not. Perhaps the muslin cloth
Madame de la Châtre,
Ally of the Duc d’Orleans
Was more a matter of the painter’s pet
Artistic principles than as troth
Marie made to le duc, was more a set
Idea of esthetics than of right
And wrong in ethics. This account would make
Plain meaning. Woven, finest, thinnest white
Would only argue, “Let us eat the cake
Of timeless, classical simplicity.”
In this scenario the selflessness
Would not be part of the felicity.
The sitter’s lightweight, geometric dress
Would not proclaim fulfilment of duty,
….But mean a gauzy, stretched, flimsy beauty.