Lot 147: Jean Ranc (Montpellier 1674-1735 Madrid)

Portrait of a lady, bust-length, in a blue silk dress trimmed with lace and embroidered with gold thread and with a pink silk shawl, a landscape beyond
oil on canvas
30 1/4 x 24 3/4 in. (76.3 x 62.8 cm.)

We are grateful to Dominique Brême for suggesting the attribution from a transparency. Jean Ranc was one of the most talented of Hyacinthe Rigaud's pupils. He joined the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1703 and, as Rigaud's protégé, worked for the French court, painting portraits of Louis XV and the aristocracy. In 1722, he was summoned to Spain by Philip V where he painted portraits of members of the royal families of Spain and Portugal. The present lot, with the brilliance of the satin shawl contrasting with the blue of the sitter's dress, is comparable to a Portrait presumably of Marie Anne Victoire, daughter of Philip V of Spain (Hôtel Drouot, 30 November 1994, p. 44, no. 127), which, though at the time 'attributed to Jean Ranc', Brême believes to be an autograph painting by the artist.

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