Views of Europe · 19th century
€ 220
One of a kind: this is the sheet in the photographs. Ships from Langweer, the Netherlands.
Original/contemporary hand coloring. General age-related toning, Minor wear and soiling, blank verso. Please study image carefully.
Antique print titled 'MADAME DE MONTESPAN' Original antique print of Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Marquise of Montespan.
Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Marquise of Montespan (5 October 1640 – 27 May 1707) was the most celebrated maîtresse-en-titre of King Louis XIV, by whom she had seven children.
Born into one of the oldest noble families of France, the House of Rochechouart, Madame de Montespan was called by some the "true Queen of France"' during her romantic relationship with Louis XIV, due to the pervasiveness of her influence at court during that time.Her so-called "reign" lasted from around 1667, when she first danced with Louis XIV at a ball hosted by the king's younger brother, Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, at the Louvre Palace, until her alleged involvement in the notorious Affaire des Poisons in the late 1670s to 1680s. Her immediate contemporary was Barbara Villiers, mistress of King Charles II of England.
She is an ancestress of several royal houses in Europe, including those of Spain, Italy, Bulgaria, Portugal, Belgium and Luxembourg.
This print originates from ' LA MÉSANGÈRE, Pierre and LANTÉ, Louis Marie. Costumes des Femmes Françaises du XIIe au XVIIIe siècle. Paris: Librairie Charles Tallandier, 1900.
This beautiful work tracing changes in French costume from the 12th to 18th century, stunning folio-sized hand-colored engraved plates depicting period fashions on famous French women who were celebrated for their talent or their beauty in the relevant periods.
