Portrait De Louise Renée Keroualle, Pierre Mignard (troyes 1612 - paris 1695)

Pierre Mignard, known as Le Romain (Troyes 1612 - Paris 1695), attributed
Portrait of Louise Renée de Penancoët de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth and Aubigny (Brest 1649 - Paris 1734) as MADDALENA

Oil on canvas
97 x 88 cm
In a large gilded frame 132 x 122 cm.
Provenance: Private collection, Naples

Full details of this painting can be viewed at - LINK -.

The seductive young noblewoman depicted in this painting is Louis Renée de Penancoet de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth and Aubigny (Brest 1649 - Paris 1734), known for having been King Charles II's favorite mistress for over fifteen years, from whose relationship Charles Lennox, first Duke of Richmond, was born, but above all for having gone down in history as one of Louis XIV's French informants at the English court.

The duchess was a highly influential figure at court, promoting French interests and often acting as intermediary between the king, his ministers and French ambassadors.

After the death of Charles II, this influence soon came to an end, forcing her to leave London in a hurry and relinquish all her possessions to return to her homeland, between Aubigny-sur-Nère and Paris, where she died in 1734, still in the good graces of the sovereign.

The special feature of this portrait, probably executed after her return to her homeland, is that the noblewoman takes the form of a charming Marie-Madeleine, depicted here after her renunciation of earthly goods, her rich dresses and jewels, in order to aspire to heavenly riches; We see her immortalized with her long hair loose on a bosom, her intriguing yet serene gaze directed at the observer, while she rests her crossed hands, as if in prayer, on the ampulla of perfumed ointments and the open book, two iconographic symbols.

The custom of portraying oneself in the guise of Madeleine was in vogue among powerful women in the great European courts as early as the 16th century, as the most appropriate image to justify the union of feminine power and virtue. It has to be said that court culture exalted only the positive characteristics of her personality, ignoring or minimizing all references to her sinful past and dissolute life.

The work, whose style is perfectly in keeping with 17th-century French portraiture, suggests an appropriate attribution to the Baroque painter Pierre Mignard (Troyes, 1612 - Paris, 1695), whose works were highly appreciated and earned him a great reputation as a portraitist of the demanding Parisian aristocracy in the age of Louis XIV, and who portrayed the Duchesse de Kérouaille on numerous occasions.

His first important artistic training took place in the studio of Simon Vouet, then he moved to Italy for over twenty years before returning to Paris, blending his own training with the influence of Roman classicism.

Mignard's elegant suppleness of touch and sensual refinement, combined with a precise rendering of chiaroscuro inherited from his artistic training in Rome (which he considered the examples of Ferdinad Voet), as well as the exceptional softness of the drawing, the bloom of the complexion and the almost enamel surfaces, and finally, the particular pose of the figure represented (the beauty of the two intertwined hands is unmistakable), further support our attribution.

The condition of the painting is excellent.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The painting is complemented by an attractive gilded frame.
The work is sold with a certificate of authenticity and a descriptive iconographic sheet.

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