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 "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 workmanship of the painting place it around 1710—due to the lady's hairstyle and the composition—when the real Duchess of Ventadour was around fifty-six years old, a far cry from the youth displayed by the female model. Furthermore, the child portrayed appears to have blue eyes, not the dark ones of the Duke of Anjou. For all these reasons, we can affirm that the female figure actually represents Catherine Marton, known as “Madame Bailly, ” second wet nurse to the 2nd Duke of Brittany, Louis de Bourbon, born on January 8, 1707. Both appear in an intimate and maternal atmosphere: 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. infant, a sign of his status as “Enfant de France.” This gesture, unusually “erotic” for court painting, confirms that this is not the governess, but the one 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 coincide with other portraits of her, particularly the group painted by Jacques Dumont “le Romain” in 1731 (Louvre, RF 511), where, at fifty years old, Madame Mercier (his successor) displays identical features (eyes, upturned nose, dimple in the chin). Although the portrait could serve to recognize the ...