20 - Laure GIRARD, wife of HOUSSAYE DE LÉOMÉNIL (1806–1866)

Laure GIRARD, wife of HOUSSAYE DE LÉOMÉNIL (1806–1866) Portrait of Louise d’Orléans (1812–1850), Queen of the Belgians. Pastel on paper, signed lower right “Laure Girard”. Circa 1832. In a gilded wooden frame with palmette motifs at the corners. H. 46 x W. 38 cm. Frame: H. 62 x W. 53.5 cm. Provenance French private collection. History Louise d’Orléans, born on April 3, 1812, in Palermo, was the second child and first daughter of Louis-Philippe (1773–1850) and Marie-Amélie of Bourbon-Sicily (1782–1866), then the Duke and Duchess of Orléans. In 1830, Belgium gained independence and sought a king. The National Congress initially chose the Duke of Nemours, the second son of the King of the French. Louis-Philippe I, however, declined this offer in order to appease the United Kingdom and Prussia. Leopold of Saxe-Coburg was then elected King of the Belgians and, in exchange, agreed to marry Princess Louise d’Orléans. The wedding took place on August 9, 1832, in Compiègne. The couple had four children: Louis-Philippe (1833–1834), Leopold (1835–1909), Duke of Brabant and heir to the crown, the future Leopold II, Philippe (1837–1905), Count of Flanders, and Charlotte (1840–1927) (ill. 1). Attentive to the needs of her subjects, she regularly helped the most destitute through charitable donations. Stricken by several family bereavements, including that of her father in August 1850, Queen Louise passed away on October 11, 1850, in Ostend, surrounded by her mother and her family. She now rests in the royal crypt of the Church of Our Lady of Laeken, built in her memory. In this work, Laure Girard succeeds in capturing, through a pastel imbued with romanticism, all the elegance and gentleness of the woman who was the founder of the Belgian monarchy. Although similar to other depictions of the queen—notably Claude-Marie Dubufe’s painting, in which she appears with a similar hairstyle and wearing a dress nearly identical to the one in our pastel (ill. 2)—our portrait remains entirely unique. It thus constitutes a true rediscovery within the iconography of the sovereign. Louise Françoise Laure Girard was the daughter of Louis Claude Girard, a military officer, and Marie Louise Thérèse Potel. In 1833, in Louveciennes, she married Adolphe Étienne Houssaye de Léoménil, a landscape painter whose career, however, would prove less successful than that of his wife. She made her debut at the Salon in 1831 and exhibited there regularly until 1852, quickly earning praise from the press. In 1835, her work was awarded a third-class medal. A critic wrote at the time about her mastery of pastel: “In this genre, Madame de Léoménil has always held a distinguished place; her pastels possess the delicacy of watercolors.” She subsequently received several official commissions for the Museum of French History, established by King Louis-Philippe in Versailles. Between 1835 and 1839, she produced a series of five portraits for the king, now housed at the Palace of Versailles, including those of Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of Burgundy (1397–1471), and Henry IV, King of France and Navarre (1553–1610). Year after year, critics praised her work, and Madame de Léoménil gradually established herself as one of the great French pastel artists of her time. She painted portraits of numerous prominent figures as well as members of the aristocracy. The portrait of the writer Paul Foucher (1810–1875), housed at the Maison de Victor Hugo, as well as our portrait of Louise d’Orléans, daughter of the King of France and Queen of the Belgians, bear witness to this. Her works are now part of the most prestigious French public collections, notably at the Musée de l’Armée, the Palace of Versailles, the Château d’Eu, and the Musée Condé in Chantilly. Related Works - Claude-Marie Dubufe (1790–1864), Portrait of Louise d’Orléans, First Queen of the Belgians, circa 1836, Brussels, Royal Collection of Belgium, inv. 276 (ill. 2). - Héloïse Leloir (1819–1873), Leopold I and His Family, 1841–1860, Brussels, Royal Museums of Art and History, inv. 11003529 (ill. 1). Literature - JUIN D'ALLAS (M.-J.-A.) (ed.), *L'Époque* or *Les Soirées européennes*: science, literature, travel, literary criticism, theater, etc., Paris, February 1, 1836. - *Journal des artistes*, Paris, January 7, 1838. - *Psyché: Journal of Fashion, Literature, Theater, and Fine Arts*, Paris, March 29, 1838. - *Revue des Deux Mondes*: A Collection of Politics, Administration, and Social Customs, Paris, April 1, 1835.