Alabaster Bust of Louise De La Valliere C.1900; by Vittorio Pochini.

A beautiful Art Nouveau bust of Louis de La Valliere.

Although Louise lived in the 17th century, the Italian sculptor Vittorio Pochini has chosen to depict her wearing a head-dress of the Renaissance period, her eyes modestly downcast. Although Louise became the mistress of the French king she was not a promiscuous woman and was deeply religious.

The name 'DE LA VALLIERE' is cut into the base.

The bust shows signs of its age with some surface cracks and some small abrasions but is still an item of great beauty.

Louise de La Vallière (Françoise Louise de La Baume Le Blanc; 6 August 1644 – 7 June 1710) was a mistress of Louis XIV of France from 1661 to 1667. She later became the Duchess of La Vallière and Duchess of Vaujours in her own right.

Louise was born in Tours, the daughter of an officer, Laurent de La Baume Le Blanc (who took the name of La Vallière from a small estate near Amboise) and Françoise Le Provost. Laurent de La Vallière died in 1651; his widow remarried in 1655, to Jacques de Courtarvel, marquis de Saint-Rémy, and joined the court of Gaston, Duke of Orléans, at Blois.

Louise was brought up with the younger princesses (the future Grand Duchess of Tuscany, Duchess of Alençon, and Duchess of Savoy), the half-sisters of La Grande Mademoiselle. After the death of Gaston, Duke of Orléans, his widow moved with her daughters to the Luxembourg Palace in Paris and took the sixteen-year-old Louise with them.

Louise had been at Fontainebleau only two months when she and Louis XIV fell in love, becoming the king's mistress. It was Louise's first serious attachment and she was reportedly an innocent, religious-minded girl who initially brought neither coquetry nor self-interest to their secret relationship. She was not extravagant and was not interested in money or titles that could come from her situation; she wanted only the King's love. She bore the king five children.

By 1667 Louis had tired of her and taken other mistresses; after much pleading to the monarch she was finally permitted to enter the Carmelite convent in the Faubourg Saint-Jacques in Paris under the name of Sister Louise of Mercy. She died, a nun, in 1710.

SIZE: 16.5 inches tall (42 cms)

PROVENANCE: Norris Castle.(Image 7)

NORRIS CASTLE is located on the Isle of Wight and can be seen from the Solent standing on the northeast point of East Cowes. The castle was designed by James Wyatt for Lord Henry Seymour. It has a mediaeval facade with crenellations, but all of this is for show as the castle has no defensive fortifications. The building's original function was entertaining.

King George IV visited the castle in 1819, and the future Queen Victoria with her mother the Duchess of Kent in 1831. Queen Victoria later purchased Osborne House, which is the next estate to the east.

In the second half of the twentieth century the castle was opened to the public; it is now closed.