FRANÇOIS CLOUET (TOURS CIRCA 1510-1572 PARIS) AND WORKSHOP

The young girl in this portrait is Elisabeth (1546-1568), daughter of Henri II and Catherine de’ Medici, then goddaughter of Henry VIII. It is one of a series of portraits of the children of France commissioned in 1558 for the marriage of the Dauphin François, her elder brother. The latter married Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, who had grown up alongside her young friend Elisabeth. At the time, Elisabeth was just 14 years old. The first drawn version of this portrait is at the Musée Condé in Chantilly (inv. MN 41; Zvereva, op. cit., no. 252, ill.). The present version is considered by Alexandra Zvereva to be a version by the master and his collaborators (op. cit., p. 301).