Madame de Montespan: her haughty side

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Jordan, a reader of this blog, noted about the portraits of Madame de Montespan (see my blog below):

"The only three Montespan portraits, in my own opinion, that do justice to her famously "haughty" appearance can be seen by following links. As Sandra mentioned in her original post, it's interesting to note how well-fed Athenais seems in some of them."

Here are the images:

This first one is by an unknown artist. Her eyes, as mentioned before, are unusual, slightly protruding—and yes, as Jordan points out, there is something haughty about her.

The second one, a miniature by Jean Petitot, is clearly the image of a "robust" voluptuous woman with a slightly aloof expression. (The site suggests that it might also be the image of Queen Marie-Thérèse, but that I seriously doubt.)

The third one, also a Petitot image, is especially interesting to me:

(Note: this is an iStock photo which I paid for the right to use.)

Given Montespan's slightly protruding eyes (a symptom of Grave's disease), her emotional unsteadiness as well as her weight problem later in life, I can't help but wonder if she had a thyroid problem. Are there any doctors among us?

Thank you, Jordan, for bringing these images to our attention.


*****
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Images of Madame de Montespan, a seductive angel/devil

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I've recently discovered Europeana, a great site for text, videos, and images. It's especially great for portraits. Here, for example, are some portraits of Athénaïs de Montespan, some of which I've never seen before:

This one above is credited to Ernest and Mignard. One can see how plump she has become. Here is another by Mignard with a similar theme: 

Athénaïs is often portrayed with her children, no doubt to secure her link to the King. This is another portrait by Mignard: 

And another:

And this one by Charles de La Fosse:

This image by Pierre Gobert is presumed to be of her, and I suspect it likely so:

Her lounging pose was unusual for the time; comfort was a new concept. Here again is a striking study by Nicolas Mignard:

This image of Athénaïs at her chateau at Clagny (Versailles now) is curious: bare legs!

This image, artist unknown (and previously thought to portray Louise de la Vallière) shows a younger Athénaïs with droopy eyes. Might this have been considered the come-hither look?

Here is another, likely even younger portrait, showing her unusual and slightly protruding eyes. 

Here is a fashon plate, dated 1694. I doubt very much that Athénaïs would have been so slender at that time. 

I could easily be on this site all day. 



Sandra Gulland


*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
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Portrait of the young Louis XIV

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Susan Holloway Scott, author of a number of fine novels about kings and their mistresses, brought this portrait of the young Louis to my attention.

As stated on the Philip Mould Fine Paintings website, young Louis succeeded to the French throne in 1643, just before his fifth birthday. In this portrait, painted in that year, you can see the insignia of Kingship: the cordon bleu of the Order of Saint Esprit and the ermine -lined robe embroidered with gold fleur-de-lys.

Susan particularly liked his charmingly ribbon-tied lovelocks. Yes, so very sweet.

Louis — "the God-given" — was adored by his mother, Queen Anne of Austria (who was, in fact, Spanish). She gave birth to him after 22-years of marriage and a number of failed pregnancies. As a child he was described as gentle and docile, according to his confessor, and overly meek and submissive, according to a governess.

For a gallery of portraits of the family of Louis XIV: click here.

Above: Portrait of King Louis XIV as a child (1638-1715) c.1643. Studio of Charles and Henri Beaubrun (1604–1692). Oil on Canvas

A portrait of Louise?

I recently got an email from someone whose grandmother owns an old painting which is inscribed, on the back, Mlle de Lavallière.



I compared it to others of Louise, and frankly — comparing the eyes, the nose, the mouth — I think it might well be her.


There aren't very many known portraits of Louise, and it's exciting to find what might well be a new image.