Madame d'Aguesseau de Fresnes

The portrait was painted by Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun in 1789 in oil on wood. It presumably remained in the collection of the sitter, Henriette Anne Louise d'Aguesseau, and her family, and may have passed through the Paris dealer Ferol around 1850. The work later entered the collection of Mrs. Stephen Lyne-Stephens, who held it at Lynford Hall in Norfolk, Upper Grove House in Roehampton, and in Paris.

It appeared in her estate sale at Christie's in London on 11 May 1895 (lot 360), where it sold for 2,250 guineas. Thomas Agnew and Sons, Ltd. handled the painting and sold it on 13 May 1895 to J. Pierpont Morgan I in London. The Morgan estate consigned it in July 1943 to M. Knoedler & Co. in New York, which sold it in October 1943 to Wildenstein & Co., Inc.

On 3 January 1944 the Samuel H. Kress Foundation purchased the portrait, and in 1946 the Foundation gifted it to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

The painting is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., as part of the Samuel H. Kress Collection. Its journey to the museum began when the Samuel H. Kress Foundation purchased the work in New York on January 3, 1944, subsequently gifting it to the institution in 1946. Prior to this acquisition, the artwork appeared in the estate sale of Mrs. Stephen Lyne-Stephens at Christie, Manson & Woods in London between May 9 and 17, 1895, where it was sold as lot 360 on May 11.

Following that auction, the piece was acquired by J. Pierpont Morgan I later that same month. The work was later consigned by the Morgan estate to M. Knoedler & Co. in July 1943 before being sold to Wildenstein & Co. in October of that year.

This painting, titled Madame d'Aguesseau de Fresnes, is an oil portrait created in 1789 by the artist Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun. Executed on wood, the work captures Henriette Anne Louise d'Aguesseau, a woman of notable social standing. The portrait serves as a visual record of its subject, reflecting the artistic practices and social conventions prevalent in late 18th-century France.