FRANÇOIS MEURET, circa 1825/1830

Details

FRANÇOIS MEURET, circa 1825/1830

The Prince de Condé wearing a powdered short wig and an earring, a dark coat with pleated white muslin jabot, decorated with the blue moiré sash and silvered breast-star of the Royal French Order of the Saint-Esprit, and the red badge of the Royal French Order of the Saint-Louis; oval -- 158 mm high, gilt-metal mount.

Provenance

Hilde Frank Collection, Leipzig.

Literature

Léo R. Schidlof, La miniature en Europe, Graz, 1964, II, pp. 582 (described as important miniature), 1030-1031, ill. IV, pl. 408, nr 833 (as by Johannes Möller).

Exhibited

Chefs-d'oeuvre de la miniature et de la gouache, Geneva, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, June-August 1956, nr 304 (as by Johannes Möller, sitter unidentified); Meisterwerke der europäischen Miniaturmalerei von 1750 bis 1850, Vienna, Albertina, March-May 1965, nr 285 (as by Johannes Möller, sitter unidentified).

Lot Essay

Louis-Henri-Joseph, Duke of Bourbon and Prince of Condé since 1818, was born in 1756. From his marriage to his cousin, Princess Louise of Orléans, he had a son, the ill-fated Duke of Enghien. The Duke of Bourbon's end was no less spectacular. His mistress, an English lady, Sophie Dawes, created Baronne de Feuchères, was ordered by the Orléans family to convince the Duke to adopt his god-son, Henri of Orléans, Duke of Aumale. After long hesitations, the Duke of Bourbon finally ceded and tested in favour of the Duke of Aumale on 30 August 1829, leaving him his huge fortune. On 27 August 1830, the Duke of Bourbon was found hung from a window in his castle of Saint-Leu. The lawsuit intended was rapidly abandoned and it is thought that the last of the Condés must have committed suicide.

More from Miniatures

View All