Madame de Pompadour at her Tambour Frame

The painting shows the one-time mistress of Louis XV in the last year of her life. ... The canvas is signed and dated on the work-table as begun in April 1763. The head, painted on a rectangle of canvas inserted into the painting, was presumably taken from life, and the rest of the picture completed in May 1764, the month after the death of Madame de Pompadour. Read more... [The National Gallery, London]