Princess Henrietta Anne Stuart, Duchess of Orléans (‘Minette’) (1644–1670) and an Unidentified Enslaved Attendant
after Jean Charles Nocret, the younger (1648 - 1691)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1700 - 1799
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1168 x 940 mm (46 x 37 in)
Order this imageCollection
Dunham Massey, Cheshire
NT 932325
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Princess Henrietta Anne Stuart, Duchess of Orléans (‘Minette’) (1644–1670) and an Unidentified Enslaved Attendant, after (studio of) Jean Charles Nocret, the younger (1648 - 1691), inscribed with name of sitter, lower right: Henrietta-Mary / Dutchess of Orleans / ob.1670. A three-quarter-length portrait of a young woman, standing to left, wearing a richly jewelled dress, holding a portrait of her husband, Philip, Duke of Orleans (1640 –1701). In the lower left corner, an attendant – a boy wearing a metal collar, a pearl earring and a fine silk shirt – faces the woman and supports the portrait with his left hand and holds a small spaniel in his right hand. Princess Henrietta was the youngest daughter of Charles I and was affectionately called 'Minette' by her brother. She married Philip, Duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIV in 1661. This may be a version of the picture in Charles II's collection described as 'Maddam with her husband's picture in her hand and a little dog by her' and another copy version is at Temple Newsam, Leeds. Princess Henrietta had been smuggled to France by her governess after the imprisonment of her father, King Charles I. She grew up at the French court with her mother and became a favourite of the French royal family later facilitating a treaty between Louis XIV and her brother, King Charles II. But her marriage was not a happy one. Philippe, jealous of his flirtatious older brother, deprived his wife of any friends, leaving her isolated and lonely and her untimely death was intially blamed on poison, although autopsies revealed that she died of a punctured ulcer. An autograph portrait of Princess Henrietta Anne, Duchess of Orléans (‘Minette’) (1644–1670) by Jean Charles Nocret, the younger (1648 - 1691) is in the collection at Plas Newydd, Anglesey (NT 1175919). Note on the Unidentified Enslaved Child: That the attendant figure is a child of African descent wearing a metal collar indicates he was enslaved. It is not known if the child was included by the artist as a trope or as a portrait of a real individual.
Provenance
Bequeathed to the National Trust with the house, estate and all the contents of Dunham Massey by Roger Grey, 10th Earl of Stamford (1896 - 1976) Object added to entry record 5955 as it can be identified in the 1769 catalogue of pictures.
Makers and roles
after Jean Charles Nocret, the younger (1648 - 1691), artist after Charles Beaubrun (Amboise 1604 – Paris 1692), artist after Henri Beaubrun the younger (Amboise 1603 – Paris 1677), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Nicolas de Largillière (Paris 1656 - Paris 1746), artist Pierre Mignard the elder (Troyes 1612 - Paris 1695), artist
References
MacLeod and Marciari Alexander 2001: Catherine MacLeod and Julia Marciari Alexander, Painted Ladies: Women at the Court of Charles II (exh cat), New Haven and London 2001, venues: National Portrait Gallery and Yale Centre for British Art 2001/2002, fig. 28 under cat. no. 4