Princess of Soubise - Studio of Jean-Marc Nattier (1685 - 1766)

Portrait of Victoria de Hesse Rotenburg (1728-1792), princess de Hesse et princess de Soubise by mariage
Studio of Jean-Marc Nattier (Paris, 1685 - 1766)
Mid 18th century French school
Oil on canvas, dimensions : h. 75 cm, w. 62 cm
Louis XV period giltwood and richly carved frame
Framed : h. 100 cm, w. 87 cm

Provenance:
- Riches sale, Sotheby's, London, 29/11/1950 lot n. 55 as Mlle Baletti by Jean-Marc Nattier (see reproduction catalog, copyright Witt library)
- William Hallsborough Gallery, London, exhibition from April 29 to June 29, 1957 (n. 29)
- JC Morris Collection London, after 1957 – 1961
- Auction, JC Morris Collection, Sotheby's London, 11/29/1961, lot n. 54
- British private collection

Related works:
- Autograph portrait signed Nattier and dated 1746, ex-collections of Marquis de Cypierre, of the Countess le Hon, of Lanvin, current location unknown (see reproduction, copyright Witt Library)

- Full-length portrait, Hoogstraten Town Hall, Belgium, identified as Marie Ludovica of Hesse Rothenburg (sister of Victoria)

- Full-length portrait, Dorotheum auction, 7/11/1991, with inscription “Marie-Sophie, 2nd wife of Hercule-Meriadec, prince of Rohan-Soubise”, with provenance from the collection of the princes of Soubise (see reproduction copyright RKD Netherlands)

Like an apparition in the middle of the green foliage, the young princess portrayed half-length seduces us with the immaculate freshness of her youth.
Dressed in a "French-style" dress of white silk decorated with pearl laces that hold the fabrics in place while revealing the curves of her chest, she is girded with a large blue silk stole held at the left shoulder and crumpled with voluminous folds on the front. Luminous reflections run across the surface of the fabrics and animate it with a thousand lights.
A dreamy gaze that barely touches the viewer in order to lose itself in melancholic contemplation, the softness of the features of her face is transcribed by a faded touch and the translucent glazes that contribute to the velvety blend of the whole.
The gray of the powdered hair highlights the flesh modeled by the intense light, while the red blush on the cheeks breaks the monotony of the chromatism so characteristic of the painter (blue-green-white).
The composition of the portrait follows the immensely successful formula used by Jean-Marc Nattier in his half-length female portraits from 1736 to 1758.
Our ravishing young woman has long been identified as Manon Balletti, daughter of Italian actors from the Comédie Française, known to posterity as the fiancée of the sulphurous Giacomo Casanova. The research of Mr. Xavier Salmon has made it possible to definitively rule out this lead, especially since the portrait of the real Manon Balletti is kept at the National Gallery in London.

Despite the difficulties of identification, in all likelihood the work depicts the Princess of Rohan Soubise, the third wife of Charles de Rohan Soubise (1715-1787), born Victoria of Hesse Rotenburg (1728-1792). The hypothesis is confirmed by several related works, but also by the dating of the original portrait 1746, which would correspond perfectly to a commission from the Prince of Soubise for the effigy of his very young wife following their marriage on 23/12/1745.

Bibliography: Jean-Marc Nattier 1685-1766. Exhibition at the National Museum of the Palaces of Versailles and Trianon from October 26, 1999 to January 30, 2000. Salmon, Xavier
Page No. 276 (with the provenance of our portrait in the left column and figure 2)