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French School, 17th Century, Portrait of the Marquise de Grugieres , oil canvas

Attributed to Pierre Paul Prud’hon (French, 1758-1823) 'La belle musicienne' Oil on canvas, oval Signed ‘P. P. Prudon’ (lower left) 28.3/4 x 23.1/2 in. (73 x 59.5 cm.) Pierre Paul Prud'hon is considered a prime example of early French Romanticism. He was born as the seventh and last child of a master tailor. At the age of 16 he was a pupil of the painter and sculptor Francois Devosge. After finishing his studies he moved to Paris, where he first worked for an engraver and became friends with the Baron of Joursanvault, who became his patron. He also made a friendship with the "incorruptible", the politician and revolutionary Maximilien de Robespierre. Despite important friendships and the care of some cardinals, Prud'hon plunges into loneliness and melancholy. He has a good reputation and produces allegorical paintings, but his attachment to Robespierre forces him to leave the French capital. He now lives in the Free County of Burgundy, where he makes portraits and illustrations for Pierre Didot, the owner of the printing house. After a few years he moved back to Paris and his career received a new impetus. In the Louvre, Prud'hon is provided with a studio in which he paints "La sagesse et la vérité descendant sur la terre" (Wisdom and Truth descend to earth) for one year, as well as some ceilings of the Louvre. The government assigns him a studio in the Sorbonne, where his wife Jeanne, whom he married at the age of 19, comes looking for him. To escape her, he asks the museum director for protection. In 1808 he wrote "La justice et la vengeance divine poursuivant le crime" (Justice and divine revenge pursue the crime). In the same year he is also named Knight of the Legion of Honour and is able to break with his grumpy wife once and for all. He soon reconnects with his student and painter of neoclassicism Constance Mayer. Pierre is commissioned to paint a portrait of the Empress and wife of Napoleon, Joséphine de Beauharnais, which can still be seen today in the Louvre. He also paints the small "Roi de Rome" (King of Rome). In 1816 the Academy of Fine Arts elected him a member, where he took over the armchair in the painting section of François-André Vincent. A few years later his depressed wife commits suicide, and full of pain Prud'hon finishes her last work "Une famille malheureuse" (Engl. An Unhappy Family) and exhibits it. He himself dies soon afterwards and is buried in Paris. Many renowned artists admire Prud'hon for his "clair-obscur", the chiaroscuro painting...

English Provincial School, early 19th Century Travellers at an inn Oil on canvas 17 x 21 in. (43.2 x 53.3 cm.)

This stunning, large portrait oil painting is attributed to Spanish Old Master Claudio Coello who is considered the last great Spanish painter of the 17th century. It has formerly been the property of Lady Beatrice...

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 an important gilded frame 132 x 122 cm. Provenance: Private collection, Naples The young and attractive noblewoman portrayed in this painting is Louis Renée de Penancoet de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth and Aubigny (Brest 1649 - Paris 1734), known to have been King Charles II's favourite mistress for over fifteen years, from whose relationship Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, was born, but above all to have gone down in history as one of Louis XIV's French informants at the English court. The duchess was a very influential figure at court, promoting French interests and often acting as an intermediary between the king, his ministers and French ambassadors. After the death of Charles II this influence quickly came to an end, forcing her to hastily leave London and renounce all her possessions to return to her homeland, between Aubigny-sur-Nère and Paris, where she died in 1734, always remaining in the sovereign's good graces. The peculiarity of the portrait, probably executed after her return to her homeland, is that the noblewoman takes the form of a charming Mary Magdalene, depicted here following her renunciation of earthly possessions, her rich robes and jewellery, in order to aspire to heavenly riches; We see her immortalised with her long hair loose on one breast, her intriguing but serene gaze directed at the observer, as she rests her crossed hands, as if in prayer, on the ampulla of perfumed ointments and the open book, both iconographic symbols. The custom of being portrayed in the guise of Magdalene was in vogue for powerful women of the great European courts as early as the 16th century, as it represented the most appropriate image to justify the union of female power and virtue. It must be said that court culture exalted only the positive characteristics of her personality, glossing over or downplaying all references to her sinful past and dissolute life. The work, whose style fits perfectly into 17th century French portraiture, suggests the pertinent attribution to the Baroque painter Pierre Mignard (Troyes, 1612 - Paris, 1695), whose works were highly praised and earned him a great reputation as a portrait painter for the demanding Parisian aristocracy at the time of Louis XIV, and who portrayed the Duchess de Kérouaille on numerous occasions. His first important artistic training took place in Simon Vouet's studio, and he then moved to Italy for over twenty years before returning to Paris, blending his own with the influence of Roman classicism. The elegant looseness of touch and sensual refinement typical of Mignard, combined with a very accurate chiaroscuro rendering, inherited from his artistic training in Rome (which he looked up to the examples of Ferdinad Voet), and the exceptional sweetness of the drawing, the floridity of the complexion and the almost enamelled surfaces, and finally, the peculiar pose of the figure portrayed (the beauty of the two intertwined hands...