Although the stretchers are inscribed with the name Marie Anne Mancini, Duchesse de Bouillon, the portrait is far more likely to be Marie Mancini (Anna Maria Mancini).
The name Pierre Mignard is also inscribed but the artist is without doubt Jacob Voet.
MARIE MANCINI, Princess Colonna and Vicerein of Naples and Aragon (Anna Maria Mancini; 1639�1715) was the middle of the five Mancini sisters, nieces to Cardinal Mazarin who were brought to France to marry advantageously. "Dark, vivacious and beautiful,"(Sir Oliver Millar) Marie captured the biggest prize of the French court: the love of Louis XIV.
Marie did not consummate her relationship with the Sun King. His love for her was a somewhat idealistic one, but he was so besotted that he wanted to marry. Eventually, Cardinal Mazarin and Anne of Austria separated the couple, banishing Marie into exile and arranging Louis' marriage to his cousin, Maria Theresa of Spain.
In 1661, Marie was married off to the Italian Prince Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna, who remarked after their wedding night that he was surprised to find her a virgin as one does not normally expect to find 'innocence among the loves of kings'. (from Antonia Fraser's book 'Love and Louis XIV'). They had three children, all sons. After the birth of her third child, relations between Marie and her husband deteriorated. On May 29, 1672, fearing that he would kill her, Marie left Rome accompanied by her sister Hortense.
In 1677, in order to support herself, she wrote her memoirs. She did not return to Italy until her husband's death in 1689. She died in Pisa and is buried in the church of the Holy Sepulchre there.
JACOB FERDINAND VOET (1639 - c.1700) was a Flemish painter who made his career in Rome in the second half of the 17th century. He was an expert portrait painter who combined solid Flemish professionalism with stylistic features from French and Italian Baroque portraiture. Little is known of Voet's early life in Antwerp. He arrived in Rome in 1663, probably via France. Voet became a much sought-after portrait painter to the Papal court and the Roman aristocracy. Voet specialized in half-length portraits, in which all attention is concentrated on the subject, who emerges from a neutral, dark background. He was a sophisticated master of his medium, painting with an effortless accuracy and a fluid ease. Voet's subjects tend to have very striking, memorable eyes, always large and evocative.
SIZE: 17.75 x 15 inches (unframed) 23 x 21 inches inc. frame.
PROVENANCE: French private collection. Verso: red wax collector's seal, probably 18th c. Various incorrect inscriptions, most likely early 20th c.
Roy and nadine precious: specialists in portraiture from the 16th to the 20th century. Established in 1972.
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Sold....portrait of Marie Mancini by Jacob Ferdinand Voet
