Louis ELLE called FERDINAND the Elder (Paris, 1612 - 1689 Paris)

Portrait of Elizabeth d’Orléans, mademoiselle d’Alençon, duchesse de Guise (Paris 1646-1696 Versailles)

Circa. 1675

Oil on canvas, 55 x 46 cm (21 ⁵⁄₈ x 10 ¹⁄₈ in.)

PROVENANCE
- Anonymous sale, Versailles, Blache auctioneer, June 17th, 1981, lot 6;
- Paris sale, Ader Nordmann, Hôtel Drouot, December 16th, 2016, lot A24. (attr. to Charles Beaubrun);

- Paris, private collection



        Our portrait already presented with another identification of the model, nevertheless retains its introductory texts.

       A radiant smiling sumptuously attired mid 17th century beauty of a type sure to captivate hearts, the young lady in our portrait both fascinates and conserves a certain mysteriousness. No specific element in the picture to date makes it possible to penetrate her anonymity, but her rich attire indicates a person of quality, no doubt from the highest ranks of the kingdom. She is, in fact, clothed in all the elegance of the early years of Louis XIV’s reign, in a silk dress embroidered with gold and silver thread with puffed sleeves encircled with ruby, sapphire, and pearl strings. An ample pendant of diamonds and large pearls embellishes her bodice, while a cape of gold cloth embroidered with silver and lined with crimson silk over the right shoulder gives even more sparkle to this display of wealth worthy of a princess.                                                                                               

Nonetheless, all of this ostentatious luxury only occupies the lower quarter of the portrait and barely extends beyond the fine light beige muslin guimpe which emphasizes rather than covers the décolleté. Above that, the marvelous lightness of the “lily and rose” flesh tones easily rivals the white pearls decorating the lady’s neck, ears, and hair. The cold light coming from the upper left glows across the flesh, falls on the pearls, brushes the carmine lips, enflames the sitter’s eyes bordered with thick silky lashes, slips across ringlets escaping from the sophisticated hair-do.

This vibrant lateral light which brings out textures, penetrates the thickness of the iris, and creates warm transparent shadows, along with this Van Dyckian blending brushstroke, are characteristic of one of the most sought out portraitists of the time. They distinguish his style from the art of the Beaubrun brothers who preferred minute description and porcelain flesh. Comparison with contemporary works by Louis Elle, called Ferdinand, which are signed on the back of the canvas leave no question as to the relationship to our portrait and its creator.                                                     

Nicknamed "Ferdinand" or "Elle Ferdinand," the Elles were a family of painters of Flemish origin active between 1601 and 1717. The first of the line, Ferdinand Elle (c. 1580-1637), probably originally from Malines, came to France in the very beginning of the 17th century. Protestant, he first worked at Fontainebleau, before setting in the Parisian quarter of Saint-Germain-des-Près where the maîtrise (guild), taking advantage of the liberties given to it by the abbey and in complete contrast to the Parisian guild, happily welcomed foreign painters. As his name lacked originality, he made himself known under his first name Ferdinand, which was subsequently taken by his descendants in order to mark the studio’s continuity: his two sons, Louis Elle the Elder or Father, and the engraver, Pierre Elle (1617-1665), and then Louis’ son, Louis Elle the Younger (1649-1717).                                                           

A famous portraitist, a master member of the Saint-Germain guild, Louis Elle the Elder worked for the grand Parisian families, the most eminent courtiers, and members of the royal family, among whom figured the Grande Mademoiselle, Queen Maria-Theresa of Austria, Philippe (Louis XIV’s brother), and the sovereign himself. As of February 1648, the artist belonged to the Academy of Painting and Sculpture where he was elected Professor in 1659. The hardening of royal politics towards Protestants nonetheless led to his exclusion on March 10th, 1681 and thus the loss of part of his clientele and official commissions. Elle Ferdinand renounced Protestantism two and half months after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, October 18th, 1685. He was immediately reintegrated into the Academy and returned to grace, as can be seen by the Portrait of the Marquise de Maintenon accompanied by her Niece, commissioned in 1688 for the Royal House of Saint-Cyr (Versailles, inv. MV 2196).     

       Our painting, although less solemn and codified than most of Louis Elle's works and especially in a small bust and not framed at the knees, a favorite composition of the artist which was also that of the Beaubrun brothers, is nonetheless the one of the artist's most intimate. With its neutral and dark background which brings closer the model to the viewer, the tight framing emphasizes more than ever the penetrating and witty gaze of the model, moreover probably painted ad vivum, in which we sometimes wanted to recognize Madame de Sévigné. We see there one of the most beautiful achievements of Louis Ferdinand l'Aisné, his most beautiful piece of a work that is still poorly identified.

The identity of the model is revealed by the Triple portrait in curved frame (fig. 1.) representing three of the four Gaston d'Orléans’ daughters: Marguerite Louise d'Orléans, Marie-Madeleine d'Orléans and Elisabeth d'Orléans (Tajan, December 18, 2018, lot 30, 54.5 x 168.5 cm, in the maner of Pierre Mignard) sold in auction sale in 2018.

fig. 1.  © Tajan

        As the inscriptions on the back reveal, the model on the right is indeed that of Elisabeth d'Orléans, Mademoiselle d'Alençon, Duchess of Guise (fig.2.). The comparison with our painting therefore confirms the identity of the model. Although we have not seen it in real, everything indicates that this triple portrait was painted after or is an original by Louis Ferdinand the Elder. On the reverse of the canvas, various inscriptions giving the name of the models and monograms crowned at the LPO (linked), for Louis-Philippe d'Orléans, C. M (Château de Madrid), described as follows in the sale catalog:

Provenance 
Commande et collection du roi Louis-Philippe pour le château d'Eu ; 
Château de Madrid, d'après un monogramme au revers 
Les modèles sont trois des quatre filles de Gaston d'Orléans, qui portait le titre de duc d'Orléans comme Louis-Philippe.

Bibliography 
Jean Vatout, "Le Château d'Eu Notices historiques", tome troisième, Paris, 1836. 
Cette série de portraits était conservée en triple exemplaires, la première décrite par Vatout étant la plus ancienne, car collectionnée par Mademoiselle de Montpensier au début du XVIIe siècle. 
Marguerite Louise d'Orléans, duchesse de Toscane, n°210, p 277, ou bien 210 bis ou 210 ter, p.283. Pour les trois séries, il est précisé: "elle est représentée avec ses deux sœurs, Mademoiselle d'Alençon et Mademoiselle de Valois". 
Françoise-Madeleine d'Orléans (Mademoiselle de Valois), volume 3, n°213, p.291, ou bien 213 bis ou 213 ter, p.294 
Elisabeth d'Orléans (Mademoiselle d'Alençon, duchesse de Guise), n°212, p.287, ou bien 212 bis, 212 ter, p.289.