604 - Nicolas de Largillière (Paris, 1656–1746) - Portrait of Catherine Marton and Louis de Bourbon, 2nd Duke of Brittany (c. 1708)

Nicolas de Largillière (Paris, 1656–1746) - Portrait of Catherine Marton and Louis de Bourbon, 2nd Duke of Brittany (c. 1708) Oil on canvas. Dimensions: 65 x 55 cm (unframed). We would like to thank Dominique Brême for his help in cataloging this work. On the back of the frame, there is an erroneous inscription reading “Duché de Ventadour, gouvernaunce des enfants de France. Louis XV, D(…) par Largillière (ND)” and, in the upper left corner, a shipping label from the Chenue house (Paris). However, this attribution to the Duchess of Ventadour suffers from several inconsistencies. First, the style and craftsmanship of the painting date it to around 1710—based on the lady’s hairstyle and the composition—when the actual Duchess of Ventadour was about fifty-six years old, a far cry from the youthfulness displayed by the female model. Furthermore, the child depicted appears to have blue eyes, not the dark eyes of the Duke of Anjou. For all these reasons, we can affirm that the female figure actually represents Catherine Marton, known as “Madame Bailly,” the second wet nurse to the 2nd Duke of Brittany, Louis de Bourbon, born on January 8, 1707. Both are depicted in an intimate and maternal setting: the child, about two years old, rests one hand on the wet nurse’s bare breast, while with the other she holds the medallion of the Order of the Holy Spirit worn by the Duke of Anjou—a symbol of the infant’s status as an “Enfant de France.” This gesture, unusually “erotic” for court painting, confirms that this is not the governess, but the woman who breastfed and raised the prince. The youthful freshness of the child—Louis de Bourbon, 2nd Duke of Brittany—and the gentle, restrained gaze of the wet nurse are consistent with other portraits of her, particularly the group painting by Jacques Dumont “le Romain” from 1731 (Louvre, RF 511), where, at the age of fifty, Madame Mercier (his successor) displays identical features (eyes, upturned nose, dimple in the chin). Although the portrait could serve to identify the ...