Portrait of Louise Françoise De Bourbon, Duchess of Bourbon C.1690; Studio of Pierre Mignard (1612-1695)

Oil on canvas in the original carved frame

The overall treatment is sophisticated and demonstrative of the Mignard studio. This striking example is a vibrant yet functional portrait of the young royal and it successfully captures both her regality and childhood candour. Mignard enjoyed a pleasant monopoly of painting courtly and aristocratic ladies comprising a distinguishable style of ideal beauty at the time. The Mignard Madonna’s were completely the rage that any lady worth her salt wanted her portrait in his style. Woman smiled “Mignardement” and wanted “Mignardse” expression; the word essentially became part of the French language and was used with great frequency.

A presentation plaque on the frame wrongly identifies the sitter as Madam de Montespan (1640-1707) whereby, in fact, the sitter is her daughter, Louise Françoise de Bourbon, Duchess of Bourbon (1673-1743) who was the eldest surviving legitimised daughter of Louis XIV of France. The image depicts the sitter when she was about 20 years of age (Madam de Monstespan would have been around 50 years of age when the portrait was painted). Louise Francoise was a renowned beauty and had an ability to please everyone she met.

The birth of Louise Françoise de Bourbon took place not at a royal residence or glittering château. Instead, Louise Françoise was born in Tournai where her parents were on a military tour. The little girl was the illegitimate daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan. Her very birth would have been scandalous had it not been for the current expectation that a King of France had a mistress – and children were an inevitable consequence. Louise Françoise was placed in the care of the then rather unknown Madame Scarron (the later Madame de Maintenon). When she was just six months old her prospects were greatly improved when her father decided to legitimise his children by his mistress, she became known as Mademoiselle de Nantes at court. To her parents, however, she was simply “Poupotte” - a nickname derived from her great resemblance to the doll she carried around with her.

During her early childhood Louise Françoise's closest friend was her younger sister, Mademoiselle de Tours, who was born the year after Louise Françoise herself. The two girls lived closely together with Madame Scarron and in 1681 Mademoiselle de Tours died which left Louise Françoise devastated. The loss was especially hard on her since she had never been close with her other sisters and never would be; their relationships were marred by an intense jealousy already from their childhood.

At the age of 11 years old Louise Françoise was wed to Louis de Bourbon, Duc de Bourbon in 1685 and she became Duchesse de Bourbon or simply Madame la Duchesse. Now, firmly established at court, Louise Françoise began her career as a noblewoman. One of her pursuits included writing verses which were often acidly directed at other courtiers.

Louise Françoise harboured a gnawing jealousy of her younger sisters and in 1692 her youngest sister – Françoise Marie – married the only son of the King's brother. This meant that Françoise Marie now outranked her elder sister and their open rivalry only worsened over the years especially when Françoise Marie became Madame la Princesse on the death of her father-in-law. Originally, it was Louise Françoise who should have inherited that title but on the death of Louise Françoise's father-in-law the title was transferred to the House of Orlèans. Louise Françoise once again felt cheated.

She began a hardly secret affair (just three years after her sister's wedding) with Françoise Louis de Bourbon, Prince de Conti, which might be seen more as an affront to her other half-sister (Marie Anne) whose brother-in-law the Prince de Conti was. Her husband was enraged but refrained from taking actions against his wife due to her being t

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