'The Marquise de Seignelay' by Pierre Mignard to travel the UK for the National Gallery Masterpiece Tour's second year

The National Gallery announced the second painting which will be the focus of the National Gallery Masterpiece Tour 2025–27. The Marquise de Seignelay (1691) by Pierre Mignard will travel to our four partners between 2026 and 2027: South Shields Museum and Art Gallery (29 August 2026 – 8 November 2026); The Cooper Gallery, Barnsley (13 November 2026 – 20 February 2027); Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool (27 February 2027 – 5 June 2027), and Ferens Art Gallery, Hull (11 June 2027 – 5 September 2027). In this striking portrait, Mignard depicts the recently widowed Catherine-Thérèse de Goyon de Matignon-Thorigny, Marquise de Seignelay (1662–99), as a woman of cultural and international importance. She is portrayed as the sea-goddess Thetis, while her eldest son Marie-Jean Baptiste (1683–1712) is dressed as the Greek hero Achilles – Thetis’ son by the mortal Peleus. Her sumptuous robe is painted using ultramarine, a highly expensive