Live Auction 10397Centuries of Style: Silver, European Ceramics, Portrait Miniatures and Gold Boxes
FRENCH SCHOOL
Lot 416

FRENCH SCHOOL

Closed3 June 2015

Price Realised

GBP 1,125

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FRENCH SCHOOL
Hortense de Beauharnais (1783-1837), Queen of Holland 1806-1810, in black dress, wearing pearls
On ivory
Bearing signature and date ‘J. Isabey / 1809’ (lower right)
Oval, 95 mm. high, ormolu frame

Henry Danby Seymour (1820-1877), Ashridge.
Thence by descent to his niece, Miss Jane Margaret Seymour (1873-1943) of Knoyle, Wiltshire.
The Property of Miss J.M. Seymour; Sotheby's, London, 9 May 1928, lot 29 (as 'A Lady', £11).
The Estate of the Late Mrs Eva Cook Chevallier Boutell; Sotheby Parket Bernet Inc., New York, 30 October 1974, lot 205 (as 'a Princess').

Specialist note

The sitter was the daughter of Josephine de Beauharnais (1763–1814) and became the stepdaughter of Napoleon Bonaparte after his marriage to Josephine in 1796. In 1802, at Napoleon's request, Hortense married his brother Louis Bonaparte (1778-1846). The couple had three sons. In 1806, Napoleon appointed his brother Louis to be the King of Holland, and Hortense accompanied her husband to The Hague.
The present miniature relates to a full-scale oil by François Gérard (1770–1837) now in a private collection.