WILLIAM ESSEX (BRITISH, 1784-1869) AFTER ÉDOUARD LOUIS DUBUFE (FRENCH, 1819-1883)

The sitter was the son of Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans and Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon-Penthièvre, Duchess of Orléans. During the Reign of Terror, the sitter fled France and spent 21 years in exile. In 1809 he married Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily (see lot 426), a niece of Queen Marie Antoinette of France. In 1830, following the abdication of Charles X of France, he was proclaimed King. His reign, known as the July Monarch, was dominated by former Napoleonic officials and he had little power. He was forced to abdicate in 1848 when he and his wife left France and lived in exile in England. They lived at Claremont House, Surrey which is now a National Trust Property.
The present miniature derives from a large-scale oil on canvas portrait by Édouard Louis Dubufe, now in the collection of the Musée Louis-Philippe, Château d'Eu, Normandy. It is considered to be one of the last portraits of the sitter, painted the year prior to his death.