WILLIAM HOPKINS CRAFT (BRITISH, C. 1730/35-1811)
Lot 180

WILLIAM HOPKINS CRAFT (BRITISH, C. 1730/35-1811)

Closed27 November 2013

Price Realised

GBP 4,750

More Information

How to sell

WILLIAM HOPKINS CRAFT (BRITISH, C. 1730/35-1811)
Marguerite Françoise, Comtesse de Buffon (1767-1808), in pink dress with purple sash and gauze fichu, wearing a gold and blue enamel bracelet, gold and silver rings on her fingers and gold hoop earrings, holding a watch in her left hand, brown curling hair, leaning against a mantelpiece; interior background with carved marble fire surround, over-mantel mirror with initials 'ZAB', a letter inscribed 'je viens' and a glass vase filled with flowers
signed and dated on the counter-enamel 'Madm: / La Comtesse / de Buffon. / W:H: Craft. / fect. / 1790.'
enamel on copper
oval, 6.5/8 in. (167 mm.) high, gilt-metal frame with foliate detail

Specialist note

The sitter was the daughter of Guillaume François, 2nd Marquis de Cepoy and Élisabeth Amaranthe Jogues de Martinville. In 1784, she married Georges Louis Marie Leclerc de Buffon (1764-1794) but subsequently became the official mistress of Louis Philippe, Duc d'Orléans (1747-1793), by whom she had one son, Victor (1792-1812). She divorced her husband in 1794, and in 1798, married General Julien Raphaël Renouard de Bussière.