Professor Catriona Seth's research allowed her to reidentify two portraits by celebrated 18th-century artist Liotard. As a result, we now know what Marie Antoinette looked like at the age of seven in 1762. Her discovery is the starting point for an exhibition at the MAH in Geneva, co-curated with Dr Marie-Eve Celio. Along with the portraits of Marie Antoinette and her brothers and sisters, the show includes a new acquisition (a drawing of emperor Francis Stephen by Liotard), a series of works and objects which chart the artist's links with the Viennese court, the elements used in the identification of the portraits and a specially commissioned digital presentation of ways in which heterogeneous face recognition might help to provide leads in history of art.
Catriona said: "It is very exciting to see Marie Antoinette's portrait exhibited under her name for the first time since it has been in a public collection and to think about ways this research might be applied to other cases where portraits need to be identified."