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Lot Essay
This painted mirror evokes the flower-wreathed portraits and luxurious Louis Quatorze 'Roman' fashion adopted in the 1690s by the English court during the reign of William III and Mary II. In particular the fashion was introduced in the Queen's Apartments at the Palaces of Whitehall, Kensington and Hampton Court under the direction of the French 'architect' Daniel Marot (d. 1752). Such paintings were a speciality of the Franco-Flemish artist Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer (d. 1699), who had previously been employed by Charles Le Brun at Versailles, 'to do the flower-part wherein he showed his excellence'. One such 'Large looking glass with flowers etc. in it' was executed by Monnoyer for the 'Looking Glass Closet' adjoining Queen Mary's gallery at Kensington; while the painter Jakob Bogdani (James Bogedain) received £60 in 1694 for his work in Queen Mary's 'Looking Glass Closet' at Hampton Court's Thames/Water Gallery.
Monnoyer, celebrated as 'Baptise the flower-painter' was brought to England in the late 1680s by Ralph Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu, and amongst his masterpieces are the flower pieces supplied for over-doors and overmantels of Montagu House, Bloomsbury. He was almost certainly responsible for the mirror from the Montagu/Buccluech collections, sold from the collection of Christopher Gibbs, The Manor House at Clifton Hampden, Christie's house sale, 25-26 September 2000, lot 303 (J. Cornforth, 'Looking-Glass Mysteries', Country Life, 21 October 1993, pp. 72-75). However, there is a possibility that this was originally executed for Moor Park, Hertfordshire, as a flowered mirror is also recorded as being incorporated into the house that the court architect Hugh May (d. 1684) had built for James, Duke of Monmouth and his wife Anne Scott, suo jure Duchess of Buccleuch. It was moved, together with some of Grinling Gibbons' carvings, to Dalkieth Palace near Edinburgh in 1700.
A paint analysis undertaken by Catherine Hassall of University College London showed that the mirror frame has been decorated four times. The original scheme was as the present scheme is today; inbetween these schemes the frame was buff-painted and subsequently pale-grey painted. The pigments used in the present decoration date the scheme to before the Second World War. The painting on the glass is mostly likely original, incorporating pigments very rarely used after circa 1700.
Monnoyer, celebrated as 'Baptise the flower-painter' was brought to England in the late 1680s by Ralph Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu, and amongst his masterpieces are the flower pieces supplied for over-doors and overmantels of Montagu House, Bloomsbury. He was almost certainly responsible for the mirror from the Montagu/Buccluech collections, sold from the collection of Christopher Gibbs, The Manor House at Clifton Hampden, Christie's house sale, 25-26 September 2000, lot 303 (J. Cornforth, 'Looking-Glass Mysteries', Country Life, 21 October 1993, pp. 72-75). However, there is a possibility that this was originally executed for Moor Park, Hertfordshire, as a flowered mirror is also recorded as being incorporated into the house that the court architect Hugh May (d. 1684) had built for James, Duke of Monmouth and his wife Anne Scott, suo jure Duchess of Buccleuch. It was moved, together with some of Grinling Gibbons' carvings, to Dalkieth Palace near Edinburgh in 1700.
A paint analysis undertaken by Catherine Hassall of University College London showed that the mirror frame has been decorated four times. The original scheme was as the present scheme is today; inbetween these schemes the frame was buff-painted and subsequently pale-grey painted. The pigments used in the present decoration date the scheme to before the Second World War. The painting on the glass is mostly likely original, incorporating pigments very rarely used after circa 1700.