Portrait of Renée Bouthillier De Chavigny C.1720; Circle of Francois De Troy (1645-1730), Antique Oil on Canvas Painting

This work formed part of the collection of the ancient seigneuries of Fossé and Bosmelet at their family seat Château de Bosmelet in Normandy, France. The family held the chateau for 380 years until it was sold in 2012 for the first time in its history. The portrait is remarkable for its fine state of preservation as it has not undergone a lining process – and also its exquisite gilded frame

This lavish large-scale portrait depicts the French noblewoman, Renée Bouthillier de Chavigny with sumptuous clothing along with diamond, pearl, and gold jewellery indicative of her wealth. She was a daughter of Léon Bouthillier, Count of Chavigny, Secretary and Minister of State for King Louis XIII and Anne Phélypeaux de Villesavin. At a young age Renée was sent to be raised and educated at Port-Royal. She became nobility of Rouen in France when she married Jean II Beuzelin, the son of Jean I Beuzelin, adviser to the Parliament in Normandy. The couple had only one daughter, Anne-Marie Beuzelin de Bosmelet (1668-1752). Anne-Marie was styled as Duchess de la Force when married Henri-Jacques Nompar de Caumont (1675-1726), Duke de la Force on June 17, 1698. The couple gave birth to three daughters, but none survived.

Anne-Marie outlived her husband but since she had no heirs upon her death in 1752 the entire Domaine de Bosmelet passed to Antoine-Augustin Thomas du Fossé, whose great uncle was Anne-Marie’s grandfather Jean I Beuzelin. From that moment the Thomas du Fossé family took the name of their main stronghold and became Thomas du Fossé de Bosmelet. Renée Bouthillier de Chavigny died in Rouen on 19th March 1711.

A portrait of Anne-Marie Beuzelin de Bosmelet (1668-1752) was painted in 1714 by François de Troy and is exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts in Rouen. Portraits of many generations of the family are extant. Our portrait appears to belong to a series of portraits of female family members, some posthumously painted, all set within beautiful Regency frames of circa 1715-1723. They were likely painted around 1720 when an ambitious expansion and upgrade programme of Chateau de Bosmelet was set about.

Château de Bosmelet was built in 1632 on the ruins of an earlier fortified castle by Jean I Beuzelin (born 1602) who was heir to the Bosmelet stronghold. It is a rare example of the pure Louis XIII style of architecture designed for pleasure as opposed to military defence. The size of the chateau was a signifier of his rising social status. His son, Jean II Beuzelin married the sitter in our portrait Renée Bouthillier de Chavigny. The chateau continued to descend within the family surviving the French Revolution, the 1870 war with Prussia, and both world wars, in which Baroness Diana de Bosmelet (died 1987) worked tirelessly to restore the property from bomb damage. Following the death of Robert Soyer de Bosmelet in 2012 the château was sold for the first time in its history.

The exquisite French Regency frame of circa 1720 is a work of art in itself.

Francois de Troy (born in Toulouse in 1645) was taught the basic skills of painting by his father. Around 1662 he went to Paris to study portrait painting under Claude Lefèbvre (1633–1675) and Nicolas-Pierre Loir (1624–1679. In 1671 he was approved by the Académie Royale de peinture et de sculpture. After 1675 he became a very successful and fashionable portrait painter.

In 1698, he was appointed a Professor of the Académie Royale, and in 1708 became its Director. He died in Paris at the age of eighty-five. He was able to work continuously in court circles for almost fifty years and was admired for his ability to capture the upper classes and their preoccupation with manners and fashion.

Provenance: Anne-Marie Beuzelin de Bosmelet at Chateau de Bosmelat, and by descent

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