Description
"comment: the admiration of french amateurs and artists for the delicate and refined works of francesco albani known as albane was evident throughout the 17th century. Mazarin brought together fourteen paintings by the bolognese artist in his collection and louis louvre, was purchased in rome to join the royal collections in 1685. The poetic and luminous compositions of the bolognese master were therefore well known to painters who could admire them both during their stays in italy and on their return to paris on the picture rails of collectors. The reference to albane's toilet of venus, the first painting of the cycle mentioned below, was therefore immediately identifiable for the 17th century viewer discovering our painting. In front of a fantastic palace rising from the waters like venus at her birth, stands the goddess of love herself, seated on a chair covered in red velvet, while two graces take care of her hairstyle, the third prepares the pearls which will adorn her and a love presents her with a mirror. In the sky, a cloud reveals the chariot of venus around which putti are active. The painter has here tightened the framing of the albane's composition on its main figures, which however present some differences with those of the painting which served as a model. Venus and the graces appear less undressed than the albanian deities, and above all each of them looks at the spectator, averting their gaze from the activity to which they are engaged. The hairstyle they wear is called "à la fontange", and is characteristic of the years 1690 to 1700 in france: this is a group portrait, and each of these women has been disguised here by the painter as a mythological figure. Their porcelain complexion, their almond-shaped eyes and their small vermilion mouths are characteristic of the portraits of the painter pierre gobert. These faces have common features and it is attractive to recognize four sisters in them. This portrait was certainly the subject of a specific commission to the artist by an aristocratic family, probably from the court. It has in fact been proposed that this portrait is that of the daughters of louis xiv, in comparison with works by gobert, françois de troy or even philippe vignon. We could thus recognize the daughter of the duchess of la vallière, marie-anne de bourbon, known as the "first mademoiselle de blois", wife of the prince de conti, and the two daughters of madame de montespan, louise-françoise, "mademoiselle de nantes", and françoise-marie, "mademoiselle de blois", having married respectively the prince de condé and the duke of orléans. The fourth nymph could finally be their young sister-in-law, the duchess of maine. The precious and cultivated character of this image corresponds to the tastes of the court of versailles at the end of the 17th century. The vogue for historical portraits was not denied throughout the 18th century and, almost 50 years after our portrait, it was the daughters of louis xv who in turn offered their features to the goddesses of olympus, under the brilliant brush of jean-marc nattier. Object Type: painting. Date: 17th century. Dimensions: height: 138 cm (54.3 in) ; width: 122 cm (48 in). Medium: oil on canvas. Collection: Unidentified location. Attributed to Gobert - Portrait présumé des filles du roi Louis XIV en Vénus et ses nymphesFXD
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