He preferred her sister.

Madame Malibran, he said, had the advantage of beauty.

In addition, she died young and left a memory of an artist in full possession of all her powers.

She was not the equal of her sister as a musician and could not have survived the decline of her voice as the latter did.
Madame Viardot was not beautiful, indeed, she was far from it.

The portrait by Ary Scheffer is the only one which shows this unequalled woman truthfully and gives some idea of her strange and powerful fascination.