Jean-Baptiste Van Loo (Succession), Portrait of... Lot 12

Jean-Baptiste Van Loo (Succession), Portrait of Jeanne-Agnès Berthelot de Pléneuf, Marquise de Prie. Oil on canvas, border-doubled. 47.2 x 38.1 cm. Framed. //rg/52/1 Jeanne-Agnès Berthelot de Pléneuf (1698-1727) was one of the most enigmatic figures of the Régence and, as mistress of the Duke of Bourbon, who stood in for the minor Louis XV, was for a short time the actual ruler of France. She came from the Berthelot dynasty, which was based in Brittany. Her father arranged the marriage of the 15-year-old to the penniless Louis de Prie, Marquis de Plasnes, whom she followed to the Savoy court in Turin. After moving to Versailles, she became the mistress of the prime minister, whose policies she played a major role in determining over the next few years. Her greatest coup was the arranged marriage of the young king to the Polish princess Maria Leszczyńska. Louis XV, who was often ill, was already engaged to his cousin, the Spanish infanta Maria Anna, but she had only reached the tender age of five, so a marriage would have to wait. The continuation of the reigning Bourbon line was therefore threatened, which is why a candidate of procreative age had to be found as quickly as possible. However, her rise came to an abrupt end when she plotted to force Bishop André-Hercule de Fleury into exile in 1725. After Fleury's return and the duke's expulsion to Chantilly, she was banished, now in disgrace, to her husband's estate in Courbépine, where she died the following year under unexplained circumstances. Stefan Zweig set a literary monument to her last years with his story "Geschichte eines Untergangs" (1910). Jean-Baptiste van Loos' portrait of Jeanne-Agnès Berthelot de Pléneuf was copied many times by his workshop assistants, and a mirror-inverted copperplate engraving by Jacques Cherreau was already widely used in the 18th century. Our depiction probably comes from the artist's successor. Leaning on a velvet cushion, the Marquise in a silver silk costume sits in front of a park landscape. On her left hand she holds a golden parakeet. She smiles knowingly at the viewer, her right index finger raised in a telling gesture. We would like to thank Alastair Laing, London, and Gui Rochat, New York, for their kind comments on the cataloging of this work. Provenance: Private collection, Germany, by succession to the present owners. Taxation: Differential taxation (VAT: Margin Scheme).