Marie Ledoux and her daughters, ca. 1787

Marie Ledoux and her daughters by Marguerite Gérard, ca. 1787

Marguerite Gérard likely knew architect Ledoux and his family. The portrait was probably given as a gift to them. The success of this portrait may have convinced some “patrons” to commission similar ones from her. Claude-Nicolas Ledoux was a French architect who developed an eclectic and visionary architecture linked with nascent pre-Revolutionary social ideals.

source: the well dowered mind