Portrait of Gaston d'Orléans, by Claude Deruet and workshop, early 17th century

Portrait of Gaston d'Orléans , brother of Louis XIII , oil on wood panel , size 20 cm x 23 cm , with its superb old frame with stone cabochons 33 cm x 36 cm , by Claude Deruet and his workshop , France early 17 th century

Third son of king Henri VI and Marie de Médicis, Gaston received at first the title of duke of Anjou. The only surviving brother of Louis XIII, he took the title of "Monsieur" in 1611. The first of his many revolts and intrigues against the royal authority broke out in 1626, when the powerful Prime Minister of Marie de Medici and Louis XIII, Cardinal de Richelieu, tried to force him to marry Marie de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier. Several members of the nobility, including the Duchess of Chevreuse and her lover, the Count of Chalais, encouraged him to refuse this union and lured him into a plot to assassinate Richelieu. Richelieu discovered the plot and had Chalais beheaded. The Duke of Anjou, heir presumptive to the throne, escaped any prosecution. He ended up marrying Marie de Bourbon in August 1626 and was named Duke of Orleans, thus becoming the first Duke of the Third House of Orleans. Nine months later, his wife died in childbirth. She gave birth to Anne Marie Louise, known as the Grande Mademoiselle.

Claude Deruet born around 1588 in Nancy, where he died in the same city on October 20, 1660, is a painter from Lorraine from the late mannerism. He had among other students Claude Lorrain and for patrons Louis XIII, Richelieu and Henry II of Lorraine, he painted many characters of the Court of France and Lorraine.
Our portrait is a very beautiful example of his art.