Woman at Her Toilette

Artist School of Fontainebleau (French, about 1560)

Date1550–1570

Mediumoil on panel

Dimensionspanel: 111.8 x 87.6 cm (44 x 34 1/2 in.)
framed: 136.2 × 108.3 × 9.2 cm (53 5/8 × 42 5/8 × 3 5/8 in.)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Terms

Object number1932.23

Label TextThis painting is likely a portrait of a lady in the court of Henry II of France, modeled after a lost painting by François Clouet, the principal court painter. Several variations of this painting exist, supporting the theory that a famous prototype must have been their common inspiration. Boudoir paintings that depicted the sitter in such intimate and revealing circumstances were developed at the court of Fontainebleau and are nearly unique to that school.ProvenanceBy 1772, Pierre Vigné de Vigny [1690-1772], architect of Louis XV; (1773, Le Brun and Remy, Paris). Richard Grenville, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos [1776-1839], Stowe House, Buckinghamshire, England; by descent to his son, the 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos [1797-1861]; (September 15, 1848, his sale, Stowe House, Christie and Manson, Lot 405); (James Ryman [about 1795-1880]); remained in Grenville family and passed by descent to Mary Temple-Gore-Langton, Baroness Kinloss [1852-1944], Stowe House; (July 1921, her sale, Jackson-Stops, Stowe House); Harry Shaw, Beenham Court, Newbury; (May 11, 1928, Christie's London). (By 1932, Raymond Henniker-Heaton [1874-1963], London, in partial ownership with R. R. Tatlock [1889-1954]); 1932, purchased by the Worcester Art Museum.

On View

On view

Current Location