Follower of Jean Marc Nattier, French 1685-1766- Portrait of a lady, three-quarter-length, as Flora, in a white dress and blue wrap; oil on canvas, 126 x 102 cm. Provenance: The Property of a Lady; Anon. sale, Christie’s, London, 14 May 1965, lot...

Follower of Jean Marc Nattier,

French 1685-1766-

Portrait of a lady, three-quarter-length, as Flora, in a white dress and blue wrap;

oil on canvas, 126 x 102 cm.

Provenance: The Property of a Lady; Anon. sale, Christie’s, London, 14 May 1965, lot 105 (as ‘NATTIER’).; Anon. sale, Christie’s South Kensington, 8 July 2014, lot 484.

Note: 18th-Century French portraitist Jean Marc Nattier, son of the portraitist Marc Nattier, was celebrated for his paintings of ladies from Louis XV’s court depicted in classical costume. The present work is highly reminiscent of his style and indeed Nattier depicted contemporary women in the guise of Flora - the mythological goddess of flowering plants, fertility, and spring - on a number of occasions. Here, the female sitter is portrayed as Flora in windswept drapery, against the backdrop of a dramatic sky, and is rendered in Nattier's distinctive palette of whites and blues.

Nattier himself adopted these features in his portrait of Princess Henriette of France, as Flora, housed in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. See, also, Nattier's 'Portrait of a Lady as Flora', sold at Christie's, London, 14 May, 1965, lot 105. The Christie’s canvas is of near identical dimensions to the present work and is similar in composition – ‘Flora’ is seated on a cloud, in blue and white robes, holding a garland of flowers. For a third example, see 'Nattier's Marquioness of Baglion as Flora', held in Munich's Alte Pinakothek [no.HUW19].
Please refer to department for condition report