File:Pierre Gobert and Workshop - The Marquise de Nesle.jpg

"Portrait Of The Marquise De Nesle. By Pierre Gobert (1662-1744) And Workshop"

"Oil on its original canvas (very good condition) Period 18th century, around 1715 Beautiful regency style frame carved and gilded wood decorations of shells and flowers (dimensions: 98 x 82 cm) Armande Félice de La Porte Mazarin, Marquise de Nesle Born on September 3, 1691 from the marriage of Paul Jules de La Porte, Duke of Rethel, Duke of Mayenne, Duke of La Meilleraye and Mazarin with Charlotte Félice Armande de Durfort-Duras. She is the great-niece of Cardinal Mazarin, and the grand-daughter of Hortense Mancini. She was married on April 2, 1709 to Louis III de Mailly, (1689-1767), Marquis de Nesle and Mailly, Prince of Orange and Isle-sous-Montreal, Earl of Bohain, Beaurevoir and Bernon, Lord of Maurup, Knight of the Orders of the King. From this union were born five daughters, four of whom were the mistresses of King Louis XV. Cardinal Dubois said of the Marquise de Nesle: "This lady has glances so inflamed that it is necessary to burn herself like a butterfly by candlelight. She is perfect in body and mind; Happy are those who arrive in the promised land! "Of great beauty, Armande Félice de La Porte Mazarin was famous for his antics during the Regency. She has at first for lover the Duc de Richelieu. But the Duke has another mistress, the Vicomtesse de Polignac. Armande, refusing to share her lover, makes the decision to provoke the Viscountess into a duel. On September 10, 1718, they fight with the pistol. She is wounded in the shoulder and the duke says, "These ladies have been very good at fighting for me. I will not sacrifice one of my hair, either to one or the other. Armande then finds another lover in the person of Louis Henri de Bourbon-Conde, 4th Prince of Conde. From this affair, she gave birth in Paris to a daughter named Henriette, April 23, 1725. She was then called to court two days later to enter the service of the new Queen of France, Marie Leszczynska. She died in Versailles October 14, 1729, aged 38, after giving birth to a boy, who died in the cradle. It is his daughter, the Countess de Mailly who succeeds her as Queen of the Queen's Palace. French painter, Pierre Gobert (Fontainebleau, 1662 - Paris, 1744) is the son of the sculptor Jean II Gobert. He is received at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture on December 31, 1701 as a portrait painter. He became the favorite painter of the great ladies of the court at Versailles in the late reign of Louis XIV as shown by the large number of portraits of these he realized. The Musée des Beaux-Arts in Agen has in its collections a similar painting (oval) representing the same character attributed to Pierre Gobert. Sold with descriptive invoice & certificate"