# The Artist’s Niece, Marianne Lavergne, Known as ‘La Liseuse’

- By: Jean-Etienne Liotard (Genève, 1702–1789)
- Date: 1746
- Medium: parchment (animal material)
- Classification: drawing
- Dimensions: height 54.5 cm x width 43 cm
- Credit line: Bequeathed by Miss Marie-Anne Liotard, Amsterdam
- Museum: [Rijksmuseum](https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/object/SK-A-228--4f8b0612bb4049770fadcb8d29bac8f9)
- Rights: [Public Domain Mark](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/)
- Picture: https://iiif.micr.io/wqxhz/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This is the original of one of Liotard’s most famous compositions, of which he made several versions. He entitled it La Liseuse (the reader), and evidently intended it as a genre piece, although he also identified the figure as his niece wearing Lyonnaise costume. Liotard took it to Versailles in 1748 to advertise his skills as a pastellist to the French court.