French school, follower of François de Troy (1645-1730): Portrait of Anne Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon as Cleopatra, oil on canvas, 18th C.

Work: 46 x 37 cm
Frame: 68 x 55 cm

Anne Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon (1676-1753) was the daughter of Henri Jules de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, and Anne Henriette of Bavaria. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, she was a princesse du sang. Forced to marry the Duke of Maine, legitimised son of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, she revelled in politics and the arts, and held a popular salon at the Hôtel du Maine as well as at the Château de Sceaux. (link)

Ref.:

- This composition taken from 'La Duchesse du Maine en Cléopâtre' by François de Troy, nowadays part of the collection of the 'Musée national des châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon', inv. MV 8288. (link)