Medium: Pigment on bone
Nationality/Style: French School, 19th century, miniature portrait
Subject: Agnès Sorel (c. 1422–1450), Dame de Beauté
Date: Circa 1830–1840s
Dimensions: Frame 4¾" W x 4¹⁄₁₆" H; sight 2⁹⁄₁₆" W x 2" H
Signature: Signed "Doffing"
Condition: Excellent; no significant issues observed
A miniature portrait of Agnès Sorel, mistress to King Charles VII of France and popularly known as the Dame de Beauté. Sorel is shown with one breast bared.
The portrait is painted on bone and signed "Doffing" in the lower portion of the image. The reverse of the frame is covered with printed paper carrying Latin text, apparently a page removed from a book, onto which the sitter's name has been written in ink. The inscription and the backing together preserve the identification of the subject, a practice common among owners and framers of miniatures in the nineteenth century.
The work is dated to approximately the 1830s–40s, a period that saw renewed interest in Sorel and coincided with the circulation of a pair of published lithographs depicting her in a similar manner. The miniature is in excellent condition, with no issues of note.
A Note on Agnès Sorel
Agnès Sorel (c. 1422–1450) was a lady-in-waiting to Isabelle of Lorraine and became the mistress of King Charles VII of France around 1444. She was the first officially recognized royal mistress of a French king, and she was very influential at court, where she was associated with the patronage of artists and the introduction of new fashions. She had three daughters, and in 1448 she received the estate of Beauté-sur-Marne, from which her nickname Dame de Beauté derives. She died in 1450 at the age of twenty-eight, and her remains were examined in 2005, revealing evidence consistent with mercury poisoning.
Medium: Pigment on bone
Nationality/Style: French School, 19th century, miniature portrait
Subject: Agnès Sorel (c. 1422–1450), Dame de Beauté
Date: Circa 1830–1840s
Dimensions: Frame 4¾" W x 4¹⁄₁₆" H; sight 2⁹⁄₁₆" W x 2" H
Signature: Signed "Doffing"
Condition: Excellent; no significant issues observed
A miniature portrait of Agnès Sorel, mistress to King Charles VII of France and popularly known as the Dame de Beauté. Sorel is shown with one breast bared.
The portrait is painted on bone and signed "Doffing" in the lower portion of the image. The reverse of the frame is covered with printed paper carrying Latin text, apparently a page removed from a book, onto which the sitter's name has been written in ink. The inscription and the backing together preserve the identification of the subject, a practice common among owners and framers of miniatures in the nineteenth century.
The work is dated to approximately the 1830s–40s, a period that saw renewed interest in Sorel and coincided with the circulation of a pair of published lithographs depicting her in a similar manner. The miniature is in excellent condition, with no issues of note.
A Note on Agnès Sorel
Agnès Sorel (c. 1422–1450) was a lady-in-waiting to Isabelle of Lorraine and became the mistress of King Charles VII of France around 1444. She was the first officially recognized royal mistress of a French king, and she was very influential at court, where she was associated with the patronage of artists and the introduction of new fashions. She had three daughters, and in 1448 she received the estate of Beauté-sur-Marne, from which her nickname Dame de Beauté derives. She died in 1450 at the age of twenty-eight, and her remains were examined in 2005, revealing evidence consistent with mercury poisoning.
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