The great French portraitists of the eighteenth century frequently made the smile a feature in expression, and a few of them, notably La Tour, seldom produced a countenance without one. In most cases the smile is a little too pronounced for permanence, but there are many examples of a faint and delicate smile which may well suggest an habitual condition. Rigaud's Louis XV. as a Boy is an instance,[a] though here the illusion quickly passes when we bring to mind the other portraits of the monarch. Nattier,[b] Boucher,[c] Dumont le Romain,[d] Perronneau,[e] Chardin, Roslin, and others, sometimes succeeded, but the French master of the smile was La Tour who executed quite a dozen examples which Lionardo might have envied.[f] Of British artists Romney was the most adept in producing a permanent smile,[g] but strange to say there is no instance of one in his many portraits of Lady Hamilton, beyond her representation as a bacchante.[h] Here the smile is far too pronounced for a plain portrait, but a bacchante may reasonably be supposed to be ever engaged in scenes of pleasure, and hence the feature does not seem to be out of place. Reynolds commonly used both eyes and mouth in creating his smiles,[i] but Raeburn was nearly equal to Romney in the number of his felicitous smiles, while he seldom exceeded the minimum expression required for permanence.[j] Gainsborough produced a few portraits of women with a vague furtive smile, sweet and expressive beyond degree.[k] They are invariably brought about by a faint curvature of the mouth line. [a] At Versailles. [b] Madame Louise, at Versailles. [c] Portrait of a Young Woman, the Louvre. [d] Two examples in the group Madame Mercier and Family, Louvre. [e] Madame Olivier, Groult (formerly), Coll., Paris. [f] See Madame de la Popelinière and Mdlle. Carmago, both at Saint Quentin Museum; and Madame Pompadour, Louvre. [g] See Mrs. Yates, Llangattock Coll.; William Booth, Lathom Coll.; and Mrs. Tickle, A. de Rothschild (formerly) Coll., all England. [h] T. Chamberlayne Coll., England. [i] For exceptions see Hon. Lavinia Bingham, Spencer Coll., and Mrs. Abington, Fife Coll., both England. [j] See Farmer's Wife, Mitchell Coll.; Mrs. Lauzun, National Gallery, London; and Mrs. Balfour, Beith Coll., Scotland. [k] Lady Sheffield, Alice Rothschild Coll.; and Mrs. Leybourne, Popham Coll. THE OPEN MOUTH