From the late eighteenth century on, musical accomplishment was regarded as a highly desirable social asset for women: for a French baroness (painted by Elisabeth Vigée-LeBrun, a fashionable court painter, 1755–1842) or an American First Lady — Louisa C. (Mrs. John Quincy) Adams — at a later period. Left:Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, France/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library. Right: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC/Art Resource, NY.