Lot Essay
Luhn, who was probably a pupil of Adriaen Backer in Rome, moved to Hamburg, where he gained citizenship in 1673 and remained until his death in 1717.
The sitter has traditionally been identified with Anne-Louise de Basville, born in 1643 of an important Nantes family. Her mother, Urbaine de Maillé-Brézé, came from an illustrious line: her father has been a maréchal de France and her mother, née Nicole du Plessis, was the sister of Cardinal Richelieu. Through the du Plessis family, Anne-Louise was related to the Duchesse d'Aiguillon, a major benefactor of the hôpital général of Paris, and friend of St. Vincent de Paul. Anne-Louise's mother had married Jean-François Bonnin de Chalucet, lieutenant pour le roi, who on his death left his fortune to Anne-Louise and her brother, Armond-Louis, future Bishop of Toulon.
In April, at the age of 29, the rich heiress married Nicolas de Basville, five years her junior, at the Château de Basville (their marriage was referred to by Madame de Sévigné in a letter to her daughter dated 6 April 1672). The young Basville was conseiller au parlement de Paris, had title to the Château de Launay-Courson and charge of the bailiwick of the Comté de Limours.
The heavy gold chains around Anne-Louise's neck were probably intended to underline that she was a woman of considerable wealth. The medallion depicts Louis XIII, wearing armour, a sash and the Ordre du Saint Esprit, and can be identified as a medal of 1641 (signed by A. Dupré), which shows, on the obverse, Louis XIII (in the opposite sense but with an almost identical legend) and, on the reverse, Cardinal Richelieu in profile (M. Jones, A Catalogue of the French Medals in the British Museum, 1600-1672, II, London, 1988, p. 113, no. 75, illustrated). This allusion would, of course, support the identification of the sitter.
The sitter has traditionally been identified with Anne-Louise de Basville, born in 1643 of an important Nantes family. Her mother, Urbaine de Maillé-Brézé, came from an illustrious line: her father has been a maréchal de France and her mother, née Nicole du Plessis, was the sister of Cardinal Richelieu. Through the du Plessis family, Anne-Louise was related to the Duchesse d'Aiguillon, a major benefactor of the hôpital général of Paris, and friend of St. Vincent de Paul. Anne-Louise's mother had married Jean-François Bonnin de Chalucet, lieutenant pour le roi, who on his death left his fortune to Anne-Louise and her brother, Armond-Louis, future Bishop of Toulon.
In April, at the age of 29, the rich heiress married Nicolas de Basville, five years her junior, at the Château de Basville (their marriage was referred to by Madame de Sévigné in a letter to her daughter dated 6 April 1672). The young Basville was conseiller au parlement de Paris, had title to the Château de Launay-Courson and charge of the bailiwick of the Comté de Limours.
The heavy gold chains around Anne-Louise's neck were probably intended to underline that she was a woman of considerable wealth. The medallion depicts Louis XIII, wearing armour, a sash and the Ordre du Saint Esprit, and can be identified as a medal of 1641 (signed by A. Dupré), which shows, on the obverse, Louis XIII (in the opposite sense but with an almost identical legend) and, on the reverse, Cardinal Richelieu in profile (M. Jones, A Catalogue of the French Medals in the British Museum, 1600-1672, II, London, 1988, p. 113, no. 75, illustrated). This allusion would, of course, support the identification of the sitter.