HST Portrait Lawyer Victoire De Lambilly Countess Villirouët Book 19th C

Oil on canvas portrait of Victoire de Lambilly* Comtesse de la Villirouët, 1st lawyer of Brittany and France, who saved her husband Comte de la Villirouët during the French Revolution by pleading, blazon and annotations on gilded wood below, 19th century. With the book "Une Femme Avocat Mémoires de la Comtesse de la Villirouët" by the Comte de Bellevue**, 1902.
This painting is in good condition and of superb quality. Panel with coat of arms of alliance between the de la Villirouët family (coat of arms on the left) and the de Lambilly family (coat of arms on the right). On III Germinal An VII, Victoire de Lambilly saved the life of her husband JB Mouësan comte de la Villirouët, ex-officer in the Condé regiment, Chevalier de Saint-Louis, by her eloquence".
The biography book attached to the painting is written by the Comte de Bellevue, great-grandson of Victoire de Lambilly (see bio below). This painting is a 19th-century copy of a painting reproduced in the book, marked "painted in 1799". On this site, we are selling a pair of portraits of the Marquis de Bellevue and his wife.
The painting comes from the Breton de la Guerrande family, related to the de la Villirouët family by marriage. The de la Guerrande family, current owners of the châteaux de la Touraille and de Lémo, are descendants of Count Paul de la Villirouët (1829-1919), mayor of the commune of Augan (Morbihan) between 1871 and 1900. On the count's death, his possessions passed to his son-in-law Pierre Libault de la Chevasnerie, whose eldest daughter married René de la Guerrande comte des Hurlières (1891-1964).
Please note: a few accidents and missing parts on the frame, wear and tear on the canvas, see photos.
* Marie-Victoire de Lambilly, comtesse de La Villirouët (1767-1813)
said to be the first woman in France to plead before the Paris Military Commission. Daughter of Pierre de Lambilly, marquis de Baud-Kerveno, baron de Kergroix, vicomte du Broutay, and Françoise de La Forest d'Armaillé, she married Jean Baptiste Mouësan de La Villirouët (1754-1845) in Rennes on June 12, 1787. Her dowry included the seigneuries of Locminé, Moustoir-Ac and Remungol. During the French Revolution, her husband was imprisoned in Lamballe between 1793 and 1795, then re-arrested by the revolutionary police and tried before a military commission in Paris in 1799 for desertion, following his emigration during the Revolution. On his return from England, he faced execution. At his trial, Victoire de Lambilly obtained exceptional authorization from the president of the court to defend her husband herself, pleading alone before the commission, and succeeded in obtaining a unanimous acquittal. From 1800, having been removed from the list of émigrés by the intermediary of Joseph Fouché, the countess's family stayed at Nantouillet. The Countess met Empress Josephine on March 17, 1810, and Napoleon on July 1. She is considered the first female lawyer in Brittany and France.
** François Xavier Fournier, Marquis de Bellevüe (1854-1929).
The Marquis de Bellevüe was a local scholar and author of some fifty historical essays on the Ploërmel and Paimpont regions. He was born at Château de la Touraille in Augan on July 3, 1854, into a family of eight children from the marriage of his father Édouard-Jean Fournier to Aglaë Marie Pauline Victoire Mouësan de la Villirouët. He is therefore the great-grandson of Victoire de Lambilly, Comtesse de la Villirouët.
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Dimensions
Frame 100 cm x 80 cm cartouche 50 cm x 11 cm
Oil 85 cm x 65 cm

Catalogue number : 900 739
All photos on :
www.antiques-delaval.com

Ref: 9EQ3BAZG23