71 - Jean Nocret (attributed to)

Jean Nocret (attributed to) (Nancy 1615 – Paris 1672) Portrait of Marie Anne de Bourbon as Cupid oil on canvas 114 x 87.5 cm The reverse of the original canvas bears an old inscription, now concealed by the relining, of which photographic documentation is available: “M.ME LE P.SE DE CONLY / FILLE LEGITIMÉE / DE LUIS XIV.” This refined portrait depicts Marie Anne de Bourbon (1666–1739), known as Mademoiselle de Blois, Princess of Conti, the legitimized daughter of Louis XIV and his favorite, Louise de La Vallière. She is portrayed in an allegorical guise as Cupid, caressing two white doves in a lush wooded landscape. The identification of the sitter is supported by an old painted inscription on the reverse of the original canvas. The composition is characteristic of the mythological and allegorical portraiture favored at the French court in the seventeenth century and may be attributed to Jean Nocret, court painter to Louis XIV and the Duke of Orléans.A member of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Nocret was a leading exponent of court portraiture, specializing in celebratory and allegorical portraits of the French aristocracy and royal family.