"Portrait Of A Lady Circa 1700, Beautiful Frame"
This portrait is an excellent example of the type of portrait that was in vogue in France. The sitter is a paragon of the upper echelons of society; sumptuously dressed in a russet gown and a white collarette. The whiteness of the skin and the beautiful expensive fabrics are distinctive elements of the sitter’s high social status. The pink silk lining of the blue wrap has been exposed intentionally as no expense was spared, even the lining was the highest quality. French artists strove to portray the beautiful drapery and their decorative richness as after all, France during this period was the leading exponent of fashion and the arts to the rest of Europe and the fashions arose from the French court itself.This portrait is held in a striking frame decorated with acanthus leaves and acorns.
Francois de Troy was born in Toulouse in 1645 and was taught the basic skills of painting by his father, and possibly by Antoine Durand. Around 1662 he went to Paris to study portrait painting under Claude Lefèbvre (1633–1675) and Nicolas-Pierre Loir (1624–1679 and in 1671, he was approved by the Académie Royale de peinture et de sculpture. After the death of Claude Lefebvre in 1675, Troy concentrated on portraiture aimed at commissions from Lefebvre's former clients and became a very successful and fashionable painter. In the 1690s, Troy became the principal painter to the court of King James II in exile, the artist of choice at the Stuart court-in-exile at Saint-Germain. Between 1698 and 1711 he produced a series of portraits of James II and his children. By the years 1698 to 1701, a period of peace between France and Great Britain, Jacobites could cross the English Channel carrying portraits of James Francis Edward Stuart and his sister Princess Louisa Maria. In 1698, he was appointed a Professor of the Académie Royale, and in 1708 became its Director. He died in Paris at the age of eighty-five. He was able to work continuously in court circles for almost fifty years and was admired for his ability to capture the upper classes and their preoccupation with manners and fashion.
Provenance: Private collection Hanover, Germany
Measurements: Height 102cm, Width 84cm framed (Height 40”, Width 33” framed)
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