Philippe Vignon
Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon (1635-1719), c. 17th century
Oil on canvas
height: 113 cm (44.4 in); width: 106 cm (41.7 in)
Unidentified location
Philippe Vignon is a portrait painter baptized in Paris , parish of Saint-Paul leJune 27, 16381 and died in 1701 , aged 67.
Philippe Vignon was the son of the baroque artist Claude Vignon from his first marriage to Charlotte de Leu. He worked predominantly as a portrait artist and painted the double portrait of Françoise-Marie de Bourbon (1677-1749) and her sister Louise-Françoise de Bourbon (1673-1743), two of the seven children of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, the king's maîtresse-en-titre. More on Philippe Vignon
Georgine Gerard
Madame Francoise d'Aubigne, Marquise of Maintenon, with Ninon de Lenclos and Andre Le Notre, c. 1837
Oil on canvas
Musee Municipal, Soissons, France
François d'Aubigné as a Nymph, c. 1662
Oil on canvas
Domain of Villarceaux
Presumed portrait of Françoise d'Aubigné painted naked by her lover Louis de Mornay (around 1662) who represents her as Diana or Nymph coming out of bath, later, having become a devout Christian, she tried to make the painting disappear before her secret marriage to Louis XIV.
Louis de Mornay was the son of Pierre de Mornay and Anne Olivier de Leuville, his wife. On the death of his father, he inherited numerous seigneuries including that of Villarceaux , in the French Vexin .
A soldier by noble and family tradition, he obtained the post of captain-lieutenant of the Chevau-Légers from Monseigneur the Dauphin and the Duke of Orléans , the brother of Louis . He later became captain of the Dauphin's guards, thus entering into the intimacy of the future monarch.
Louis de Mornay quickly carved out a reputation as a seducer and court man. He was even imprisoned for some time in the Bastille for “having seduced a young maiden”.
In May 8, 1643, Louis de Mornay married, at the age of 24, Denise de la Fontaine d'Esche, maid of honor to Queen Anne of Austria , much older than him but also much wealthier.
His affair with Ninon de Lenclos became the subject of salon conversations in the capital.
Separated from Ninon, Louis de Mornay tried to court Françoise Scarron (François d'Aubigné), the wife of the poet Paul Scarron. He thus began to frequent Scarron's salon, to get closer to "the beautiful Indian" , as Françoise Scarron was then nicknamed . After her husband's death, she became his mistress for three years, before ending her relationship.
Mornay produced a painting representing her as a Greek goddess, bare breast, gazing at the horizon, indifferent to Louis de Mornay, represented as Cupid holding his arrow. This canvas is kept in the dining room of the Château de Villarceaux , in Val-d'Oise .
He died in 1691 , alone and in debt, and was buried in the Sainte-Marie-Madeleine priory church in Villarceaux. More on Louis de Mornay
Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon, first appeared at Versailles in the 1670s. Born in 1635 in the prison at Niort, where her father was imprisoned for debt, she was orphaned in 1647 and in 1652 married the poet Paul Scarron, who was renowned as a master of the burlesque. Upon his death in 1660, Scarron left his wife with nothing more than his name and a mountain of debt.
Workshop of Pierre Mignard (1612–1695)
Madame de Montespan and her children, around 1673
Presumed portraits of Madame de Montespan surrounded by the King's four first legitimized children, in 1673
Oil on canvas
height: 248cm; width: 113cm
Castle of Versailles
More on Pierre Mignard below
At the initiative of the Marquise de Montespan, the official mistress of Louis XIV whom she had met some years previously, she became governess to the king’s illegitimate children in 1669. This provided an excellent opportunity to meet the king in person when he came to visit his children. Louis’ first impression of her, it appears, was that she was “unbearable.”
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Pierre Mignard
Portrait Of Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise De Maintenon (madame De Maintenon), C.1700
Oil on canvas
Height 86cm, Width 73cm
Private collection
Françoise d'Aubigné is dressed in a russet gown with collarette, an azure silk mantle, and her hair is partially covered by a transparent black wrap, as she was often depicted with. France during this period was the leading exponent of fashion and the arts to the rest of Europe and the fashions arose from the French court itself. A feature of this portrait is the stunning original 17th century carved and gilded wood frame, decorated with acorns and acanthus leaves.
Pierre Mignard (17 November 1612 – 30 May 1695), was a French painter known for his religious and mythological scenes and portraits. He was a near-contemporary of the Premier Peintre du Roi Charles Le Brun with whom he engaged in a bitter, life-long rivalry.
Pierre Mignard was born at Troyes in 1612. He came from a family of artisans. He was the younger brother of Nicolas, who became a painter and etcher. Mignard trained in Bourges with the Mannerist painter Jean Boucher. He then studied for a period in the studio of Simon Vouet. Mignard left for Rome in 1635 where he would stay about 22 years.
In Rome he painted religious commissions. He was particularly known for his many images of the Madonna and Child. They were so popular that they were referred to as "Mignardises." He also painted altarpieces. His compatriot Nicolas Poussin hired Mignard to make copies of is works. He was also active as a reproductive engraver making copies after Annibale Carracci. Mignard's life-long interest in portrait painting was also developed at this time and he painted portraits of subsequent popes, cardinals and prominent members of the Italian nobility. He also travelled to Northern Italy where he visited Bologna, Parma, Mantua, Florence and Venice.
His reputation was such that he was summoned to Paris in 1657. In Paris he became a popular portrait painter. He found favor with king Louis XIV who sat for many portraits. Mignard became a rival of the leading French painter of that time and first painter to the King, Charles Le Brun. He declined to enter the Academy of which Le Brun was the head. Mignard also opposed the authority of the Academy.
With the death of Le Brun in 1690, Mignard succeeded to all the posts held by his opponent. He died in 1695 at Paris as he was about to begin work on the cupola of the Invalides. More on Pierre Mignard
Follower of Pierre Gobert (Fontainebleau 1662-1744 Paris)
Portrait of a lady, traditionally identified as Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon, as Abundance
Oil on canvas, oval
81.6 x 64.5cm (32 1/8 x 25 3/8in).
Private collection
Pierre Gobert (1662 – 13 February 1744) was a French painter.
He was born in Fontainebleau, the son of the sculptor Jean II Gobert. Gobert entered the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture on 31 December 1701 as a portraitist. During the reign of Louis XIV he became the preferred painter of the great ladies of the court as evidenced by the large collection of portraits that he executed during that time. Gobert's style included incorporating the traits of mythology into his portraits. More on Pierre Gobert
Madame de Maintenon held a great influence over Louis XIV, who visited her every day in her apartments overlooking the palace’s royal courtyard. He worked there, held meetings with his ministers, and enjoyed moments of tranquillity in the company of his secret wife. It is difficult to determine, nonetheless, how much of a role she played in the monarch’s political decisions. Her “reign”, which some contemporaries decried as strict and boring, did appear to coincide with a certain change in the king’s character. Madame de Maintenon bore much of the blame for this new state of affairs, which many courtiers resented. A few days before the death of Louis XIV in 1715, his powerful secret bride retired to Saint-Cyr, the school for girls which she had persuaded the king to found.
Peter the Great visiting Madame de Maintenon (late 19th/early 20th century)
Oil on canvas
Château de Maintenon
Thérèse de Champ Renaud, who signed several canvases with her married name, is not well known. Born in Switzerland, she exhibited at the Salon between 1885 and 1893. Examples of her work appear occasionally on the art market such as landscapes, but also historical scenes. She studied with her future husband Georges Moreau de Tours (French painter) 1848 - 1901.
After her husband's death in 1715, she continued to receive visitors at Saint-Cyr, including Tsar Peter the Great of Russia. He was seated at a chair by the foot of her bed and asked what her illness was, to which she replied, "Old age". She asked what brought him to her room, to which he replied, "I came to see everything worthy of note that France contains." He later remarked to his aides that she had rendered a great service to the King and nation
Madame de Maintenon was buried at the school for young girls she founded in Saint-Cyr, which was subsequently converted into a military academy by Napoleon. Her body was exhumed by revolutionaries in 1793. Her remains were rediscovered during the Second World War amid the ruins of the bombed academy and were transferred to the royal chapel at the Palace of Versailles, before being returned to Saint-Cyr in 1969. More on Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon
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