Lot Essay
Françoise-Louise de la Baume Le Blanc, later duchesse de La Vallière, was brought to the court of Louis XIV by her step-father, the baron de Saint Rémy. As lady-in-waiting to Louis XIV's sister-in-law, she quickly came to the attention of the king himself, and at the age of 17, she became his mistress.
During the course of their relationship, Mlle de La Vallière bore the king four children, of whom two lived to maturity - Marie-Anne and Louis de Bourbon, born in 1666 and 1667 respectively. The young Louis, who became the Comte de Vermandois, was destined for a military career, but died at the age of 16 at the time of his first campaign. Marie-Anne married Louis-Armand de Bourbon, and became the princesse de Conti. She died in 1739 at the age of 74.
The attribution of the present reliefs to Antoine Coysevox is a traditional one, although at the time of their sale from the collection of E.J. Wythes in 1935, they were not ascribed to any particular artist. Stylistically, the treatment of the eyes, hair and lace collars may be compared to the roughly contemporary busts executed by Coysevox of Le Brun and Colbert (Keller-Dorian, op. cit., I, nos. 3, 10, pls. 9, 10, 16), although the reliefs are more intimate in character. They must date from circa 1671, when the children would look slightly younger than they appear in the Mignard portrait of them thought to date from 1672 (see Nikolenko, loc. cit.). It was in this same year that Coysevox, who had been Sculptor to the King since 1666, returned to Paris from an extended period away from the French court during which time he had been working for the Prince-Bishop of Strasbourg. Interestingly, it is noted that a marble portrait relief of the duchesse de La Vallière by Coysevox was listed in the État des monuments existants au dépôt des Petits-Augustins in 1816 (Keller-Dorian, op. cit., II, p. 92). The location of this relief is unknown, but it is tempting to suppose that it was carved at the same time as the present reliefs of her children, not long before the duchess's fall from grace and subsequent retreat to a Carmelite convent.
During the course of their relationship, Mlle de La Vallière bore the king four children, of whom two lived to maturity - Marie-Anne and Louis de Bourbon, born in 1666 and 1667 respectively. The young Louis, who became the Comte de Vermandois, was destined for a military career, but died at the age of 16 at the time of his first campaign. Marie-Anne married Louis-Armand de Bourbon, and became the princesse de Conti. She died in 1739 at the age of 74.
The attribution of the present reliefs to Antoine Coysevox is a traditional one, although at the time of their sale from the collection of E.J. Wythes in 1935, they were not ascribed to any particular artist. Stylistically, the treatment of the eyes, hair and lace collars may be compared to the roughly contemporary busts executed by Coysevox of Le Brun and Colbert (Keller-Dorian, op. cit., I, nos. 3, 10, pls. 9, 10, 16), although the reliefs are more intimate in character. They must date from circa 1671, when the children would look slightly younger than they appear in the Mignard portrait of them thought to date from 1672 (see Nikolenko, loc. cit.). It was in this same year that Coysevox, who had been Sculptor to the King since 1666, returned to Paris from an extended period away from the French court during which time he had been working for the Prince-Bishop of Strasbourg. Interestingly, it is noted that a marble portrait relief of the duchesse de La Vallière by Coysevox was listed in the État des monuments existants au dépôt des Petits-Augustins in 1816 (Keller-Dorian, op. cit., II, p. 92). The location of this relief is unknown, but it is tempting to suppose that it was carved at the same time as the present reliefs of her children, not long before the duchess's fall from grace and subsequent retreat to a Carmelite convent.