And she still managed to be fun at parties. In an age when actresses were considered little better than prostitutes (because if you bare your soul on stage, logically you must be cool with baring the rest of yourself off stage), Sylvia remained faithful to one man, was extremely pious, and kept a large, personal library of moral literature. What is most astonishing is the degree of respectability she attained. She even hobnobbed with members of the court of Louis XV and personalities such as Casanova, who may have loved her (and definitely was briefly in love with her daughter, Manon). When she went out, people called out the names of her beloved characters. She was supremely talented, acting with an empathy and grace that won her fame and respect from aristocrats and the general public alike. The model for this painting is thought to be Sylvia Balletti, an actress of the Comédie-Italienne in Paris. Who could guess? Do you hear the swish of the guillotine yet? It’s coming. In a society that delighted in itself as thoroughly as mid-18th century France, portraiture was extremely sought after, and fashionable ladies found they really, really liked being depicted as goddesses. In fact, Nattier is often credited with the revival of the Allegorical Portrait, a type taken up with enthusiasm by the likes of Francois Boucher, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Angelica Kauffman. Nattier actually aspired to be a history painter, but since he needed money to exist (a sorry state of affairs that continues to plague society to this day), he turned to allegorical portraits, depicting court ladies as classical mythological figures, as a way to both make ends meet and satisfy his own artistic yearnings. 18th Century Celebrity Nip-Slip takes Center Stage in Nattier’s Thalia, Muse of Comedy.
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