Portrait of Queen Marie Thérèse of Austria attributed to the Beaubrun cousi

Beautiful portrait of Marie Thérèse of Austria*, queen of France and wife of King Louis the XIVth. She is represented in front, three quarters, half bust. Richly dressed in her blue velvet coat embroidered with lily flowers in gold threads and lined with ermine. She is wearing her traditional pearl set (necklace and pendants).

Oil on canvas, good condition, small restorations of use.

Original gilded oak frame.

Parisian work attributable to cousins Henri and Charles Beaubrun*, circa 1660-1665.

Dimensions :

Frame : 23,5 inches 28,5 inches
 
Our Opinion:

Our very beautiful portrait is characteristic of the manner of the Beaubrun cousins who were painters specialized in portraits of the queens of France. Very inspired by the Flemish productions of the XVIIth century, our two painters often used the same process to sublimate their works, with a black background and a magnificent porcelain complexion which attracts the eye and contrasts strongly with the texture of the clothes.
As soon as the queen came to power in 1660, they began to work for her to spread the royal portrait. Several portraits from their workshop are known and are preserved in major collections, such as the one in the Château de Versailles (inv. no. MV2067) which represents the queen seated in a three-quarter position. This portrait is very close to our version, and was also painted around 1660-65, that is to say in the first years after the queen's marriage. In both versions, we can see her beloved pearl set and her hairstyle with multiple curls, characteristic of the Spanish court. Another version with a very similar iconography, where the queen is represented with her son, is kept in the Prado Museum.
* Daughter of Philip IV of Spain and Elisabeth of France, Maria Theresa was born on September the 10th, 1638 in El Escorial, a palace near Madrid, and died on July the 30th, 1683 in Versailles. In 1660, following the Treaty of the Pyrénées, she married Louis the XIVth in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, a marriage that sealed the reconciliation between France and Spain. Thus, infanta of Spain and Portugal, archduchess of Austria, she became queen of France and Navarre. She briefly held the regency in 1672 during the Dutch war. She was the last queen of France to assume a regency.
*The Beaubruns : Henri, born in 1603 in Amboise and died in 1677 in Paris, and his cousin Charles Beaubrun, born in 1604 in Amboise and died in 1692 in Paris, were French painters.
Active at the court of the kings Louis the XIIIth and Louis the XIVth, they specialized in portraits of the queens of France.