louise de broglie (1818–1882) was 27 at the time of the portrait. ingres had two to three years earlier sketched her with black chalk as a preparatory drawing, and begun an oil-on-canvas painting, which excludes the mirror and reflected images, and reverses the pose, but that was abandoned. the sessions were long and slow, and de broglie found them wearisome, at one stage complaining "for the last nine days ingres has been painting on one of the hands". she fell pregnant with her third child, was thus unable to pose further, and the 1842 painting remains unfinished.