French School 18th Century, Presumed Portrait Of Marie Lesczynska, Oil On Canvas.

This portrait is probably that of Marie Leszczynska (1703 – 1768), wife of Louis XV, king of France. The queen appears relatively old, which allows us to date the portrait to around 1755 – 1760. In addition to the resemblance of the face with better-known portraits of Marie Leszczynska (see for example https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki /File:Maurice-Quentin_de_La_Tour,_Portrait_de_Marie_Leczinska,_reine_de_France_%281748%29_-_02.jpg), we note that in the painting, the subject wears a vast red coat lined with ermine, characteristic of royal costumes.
The subject occupies most of the canvas and stands out against a dark background. Lace and jewelry are finely represented.
The painting is not signed.
The work is in good condition. The restorations are invisible on the front side, and the painting is clean. It is offered in a large gilded frame, itself in very good condition. Be careful, the whole thing weighs around twenty kgs.

The American destiny of the portrait of Marie Leszczynska.
When I purchased this painting several years ago from a private owner in northern Washington state (USA), it was extremely dirty, you could barely tell that it was a portrait of a woman. I discovered that the painting had been re-canvased twice. It has been restored to remove layers of relining.
What is relining used for?
When the original canvas becomes fragile or tears, it is glued to another, more solid canvas. In this case, the original canvas is glued to two other canvases, thus forming a three-layer sandwich, one before 1851 and the other probably installed before 1920. We hoped to find information on the back of the original canvas, but there was nothing. I then decided to separate the two later paintings and, on the back of the older one, I found the following delivery information:
Mrs. DeLagnel
To Reverend Johnston
In care of Stephen Shinn
Alexandria Va
1851

So the painting was sent from France to the city of Alexandria, in the south of the United States. It had been commissioned by Reverend Johnston who was hosting his sister-in-law, the widow of Captain DeLagnel (the DeLagnel family being well known in American history), and her 4 children. The painting would have been part of the original furniture of this house.
The Johnstons, southern sympathizers, abandoned the property when the Union took over the town in 1861. The house became the Union's Prince Street Hospital. Quite unusually, Reverend Johnston was able to repurchase the property after the war. In 1875 he transferred title to Colonel Julius DeLagnel. The house remained in the family until 1903, when it was sold to various veterans' organizations and now houses a Confederate War museum.

When I moved to France 20 years ago, I took this painting with me. It is therefore an object with a long and turbulent history that I am offering you today.

Work visible at the gallery (07240). ​​​​​​​
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