Duke of Penthièvre, Admiral of France, workshop of J. M. Nattier, c. 1740
Portrait of Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre, member of the royal family of France, grandson of Louis XIV, admiral and grand hunter of France.
The young prince is portrayed half-length, looking the spectator in the face.
The youthful face with a solemn expression, with cheeks slightly enhanced with pink blush.
The powdered hair is tied at the nape of the neck with a large gray knot, the ends of which are visible on each side.
The duke is dressed in breastplate and shoulder pads over a velvet leotard and a white blouse.
Wrapped around her waist, her large white command sash is tied around her right hip in an intricate knot.
He wears, above his breastplate, all the attributes of a prince of his rank. In saltire the blue ribbon of the Order of Saint Esprit, around the neck the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece and hanging on the chest the badge of the Order of Saint Louis, the tied red ribbon to which is hung the white cross.
His bellicose face stands out against the backdrop of a sky laden with smoke from cannons. To his left we can see a ship in the middle of the waves, symbol of his office as Admiral of France received at the age of 12 after the death of his father, count of Toulouse.
The tight framing of the portrait reflects the importance of the young prince's figure and his imposing posture.
Workshop of Jean Marc Nattier, circa 1740
Oil on canvas
Dimensions: h. 79 cm, l. 63
An 18th c. Louis XV very beautiful richly carved giltwood frame
Framed: h. 106 cm, l. 90 cm
We do not know the original autograph lost version of this portrait by Jean Marc Nattier, however several variations of the artist's studio of this lost portrait have survived.
We can quote
• Oil on canvas at mid-legs, collection of the princes of Mérode at Château Rixensart in Belgium
• Oil on canvas half-length, Thierry de Maigret sale, Paris, June 3, 2015
As well as a miniature attributed to André Lefèvre d´Orgeval after the lost portrait.
The workshop variations or repetitions of this portrait of a teenage prince reveal to us the importance of commission this portrait from Jean Marc Nattier It comes from the mother of Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Countess of Toulouse. Anxious to preserve and promote the princely status of her child with the court and the nobility following the death of her disgraced husband.
Louis-Jean-Marie de Bourbon, born November 16, 1725 at the Château de Rambouillet and died March 4, 1793 at the Château de Bizy in Vernon (Eure), is a member of the royal family of France, grandson of Louis XIV, who was Duke of Penthièvre, admiral and grand hunter of France.