AFTER LÉONARD LIMOSIN (1505-1577), Limoges, 19th... Lot 1

AFTER LÉONARD LIMOSIN (1505-1577), Limoges, 19th century Portrait of the elderly Constable Anne de Montmorency (1493-1567) Polychrome painted enamel with gold highlights Set in a gilded wooden frame with leathers, scrolls, decorated with six enamel plates painted in grisaille; two of the torchères and two senestrochères carrying the sword, surrounded by a phylactery with the motto of the constable on half-spheres stamped in plates cut in volute, two human masks in polychrome painted enamel; bearing the monogram "LL" and the date "1556" in the cartouche of the upper right spandrel H.: 80 cm (31 ½ in.) W: 59 cm (23 ¼ in.) Provenance: French private collection. A painted enamel portrait of Anne of Montmorency (1493-1567), Constable of France, after Léonard Limosin (1505-1577), Limoges, 19th century Léonard Limosin is certainly one of the greatest representatives of the Fontainebleau school in the field of enamel painting. Appointed enamel painter and valet de chambre du Roi by Henri II in 1548, he later served François II and Charles IX. The portraits of Anne de Montmorency, Constable of France, and Catherine de Medici, wife of Henry II and regent during the minority of her son Charles IX, represent two of the greatest patrons of enamel painting. The famous portrait of Anne de Montmorency by Limosin, painted in 1556, is kept in the Louvre Museum (N°1254). Catherine de Médicis, for her part, was portrayed no less than fourteen times. In total, eighteen of Limosin's portraits, including Anne de Montmorency and four of Catherine de Medici, were mounted as here in elaborate frames incorporating additional enamel plates. A pair of portraits of Anne de Montmorency and Catherine de Medici, in frames identical to the present portrait, from the von Oppenheim Trust, was sold at Christie's New York on April 24, 2001, lot 223. A portrait of Anne de Montmorency from the Al Thani collection at the Hôtel Lambert was sold at Sotheby's Paris, October 12, 2022, lot 101.