Johanna Lourdet by Bon Boullogne, 1687

Portrait of Johanna Lourdet, oil on canvas (original canvas), signed and dated on the reverse "B. Boullogne pinxit 1687", gilded wood frame (restored), late 17th century.

Portrait of Johanna Lourdet painted by Bon Boullogne in 1687. The young lady is dressed in the fashion of the time, corseted, dressed in silk and covered with a translucent veil. The very light, milky complexion contrasts strongly with the dark background, with the brown eyes whose treatment is clearly 17th century. The left arm holds the veil while the right hand rests on a rich green velvet cushion, with borders embroidered with gold thread, which, like the pearl bracelet holding the stole, is part of the accessories imagined to stage the family member in the manner of an aristocratic portrait.

Johanna Lourdet would belong to the family of Anne Lourdet, the second wife of Bon Boullogne (1649-1717). According to the inscription on the back of the portrait, Joanna Lourdet was born on May 2, 1668. She married in April 1686 Joseph S****eur (illegible).

Good Boullogne

Boullogne, was one of the five most famous history painters of the late reign of Louis XIV. His work is particularly diversified, both in terms of the genres approached and the techniques employed: sometimes he imitates the great Bolognese painters, sometimes he creates genuine pastiches of the small Dutch masters of the Golden Age. More exceptionally, he painted a rare portrait here.

Bon Boullogne showed early on a great aptitude for painting. It is believed that he participated in the work of the Great Gallery of the Louvre. Colbert gave him the king's pension in Rome, without having competed for the painting prize at the sight of a Saint John, half-figure, that his father had presented to him and that he found so well, that, by his order, the painting remained in the salons of the Academy.

Back in France, he was admitted to the Royal Academy in 1677 and, the following year, appointed professor and painter to the king. His reputation made him distinguished by Louis XIV, who gave him a pension of six hundred pounds. He worked in the church of the Invalides, in the palace and chapel of Versailles, in Trianon.

Most of the French painters active at the turn of the 17th century were trained in his studio.

The canvas has been cleaned, and a fragment of the frame reinstated.

Size of the frame included (H x W): 103 x 83 cm. Size of the canvas (H x W): 81 x 64 cm.