(Fontainebleau 1662–1744 Paris)
Portrait of Louis François de Bourbon, Prince de Conti (1717–1776)
oil on canvas, 116 x 89 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection Ferdinand Goldschmidt (1839-1918), his son-in-law Andre Lazard (1869-1931);
his heirs; sale Tajan 20 December 2002, Lot 138 (as Attributed to Alexis Simon Belle);
Private European Collection

Literature:
Catalogue Christie’s London, 3 December 2013, p. 86, fig. 5

Previously believed to be by Alexis Simon Belle, the present painting in fact is a reduced but autographed version of a full length portrait by Gobert at Versailles (oil on Canvas, 206 x 154 cm, Inv. Nr. L MV 4397; INV 7580; LP 974), which was only recently (2002) returned to Pierre Gobert (see exhibition catalogue, Mes rêveries ... le maréchal de Saxe Chambord, V. Cochet/L. Hugues/J.-P. Bois, Paris 2002), whereas it before had been considered to be by an anonymous follower of Hyacinthe Rigaud. Louis François de Bourbon, Prince of Conti (1717-1776) was one of the most ambitious and prominent collectors at the end of the Ancien Régime. His collection was sold only one year after his death and there were approximately 3500 lots: they comprised 1085 pictures, 392 drawings, terracottas, Egyptian, Classical and contemporary bronzes, medals and jewellery, among other items. A number of portraits of the Prince are in existence, as paintings (four at the château of Versailles) and engravings, amongs them The Court of the Prince de Conti Listening to the Young Mozart, Aged Ten painted by Michel-Barthélémy Ollivier.