Margaret of Scotland

細節

John Porter (fl. 1824-1870)
Margaret of Scotland
signed 'J. Porter.' (lower right) and inscribed: 'Margaret of Scotland Margaret daughter of James the first of Scotland, and Dauphiness of France was a princess of merit, and particularly attached to learning and the learned. It is said that Alain Chartier, one of the best poets and orators of his time was one day asleep in a porch and that Margaret passing through approached and kissed him and to satisfy the arrangement one of her ladies said "I kiss not the man. I kiss the poet Author of so many beautiful things" ..of Louis XI.' (on an old label on the reverse)
oil on canvas
60 x 50 in. (152.4 x 127 cm.)

展覽

London, Royal Academy, 1837, no. 424.

注意事項

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

拍品專文

Margaret of Scotland's encounter with Alain Chartier was perfect fodder for the Romantic imagination. It was said that Margaret, daughter of James I of Scotland and eventual wife to Louis XI, chanced upon the poet sleeping in her palace, and bestowed a kiss upon his lips to honour this 'Author of so many beautiful things'. Chartier, christened 'the father of French eloquence', combined his role as man of letters and orator with those diplomatic duties he bore as secretary to Charles VII, arch-deacon to Notre Dame and envoy (from 1428) to the Scottish court. As the author of La Belle Dame sans Merci, the allegorical poem that inspired both Chaucer and Keats, Chartier is well-placed in a tale of such symbolic resonance. The story is apocryphal however; Margaret was only twelve when she married in 1436 and it is now believed that Chartier died a few years previously.