Jean Nocret (attribuito a) (Nancy 1615 - Parigi 1672), Portrait of Marie Anne de Bourbon as Cupid

oil on canvas
cm. 114x87,5

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 legitimised daughter of Louis XIV and his favourite, Louise de La Vallière. She is portrayed in 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 favoured 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, specialising in celebratory and allegorical portraits of the French aristocracy and royal family.