Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 13

Henri Millot
18th c. French Portrait of Louise Dorothea von Hoffman, signed H. Millot, 1724

1724

About the Item

HENRI MILLOT PORTRAIT OF LOUISE-DOROTHÉE VON HOFFMAN Signed “h. millot” and dated 1724 on the back of the original canvas Henri Millot, French painter (Paris, active between 1699 and 1756) Oil on canvas: h. 32.28 in, w. 25.59 in 18th century period frame in gilded and carved wood Framed dimensions: h. 41.34 in, w. 33.46 in The portrait that we present is signed and dated by Henri Millot, French painter, one of the most brilliant pupils of Nicolas de Largillière. Given the location of Henri Millot in 1724 and strong resemblances, the identity of the young woman seems to us to be obviously that of Louise Dorothée von Hoffman, wife of Duke Gustave-Samuel-Léopold de Palatinat-Deux-Ponts . The young aristocrat is portrayed at mid-height, her body turned three-quarters. The high carriage of his head gives him a slightly haughty air, softened by the benevolent gaze of his wide gray eyes and a pleasant half-smile. Her powdered hair is curled and raised in a bun clearing the forehead and slightly covering the ears. This "sheep's head" hairstyle was typical of the 1720s to the 1750s and replaced the "à la Fontange" hairstyle. A few blue daisies are stuck in her hair. The young woman is dressed in a blue velvet dress embroidered with gold threads at the neckline, sleeves and waist. Gemstone clasps adorn her neckline, sleeves and waist. A pink satin coat pinned to her dress by a jeweled clasp covers her shoulders and falls in wide, angular folds. The draperies enhanced with glazes and impastos are available in several shades of purplish pink with iridescent effects going to warmer tones. Far from blending the colors, Millot finds its harmony here by juxtaposing large chromatic ranges that exacerbate each other: the lapis lazuli blue of the velvet and the pearly pink of the coat. The landscape in the background is formed by foliage and dominated by a blue sky with dark clouds. Historical context After his apprenticeship in the studio of Nicolas de Largillière, Henri Millot worked independently in Paris until around 1715, when he arrived in Strasbourg. He was documented at the Palatine court of Deux-Ponts around 1720. Duke Gustave-Samuel-Léopold de Palatinat-Deux-Ponts commissioned several portraits of him: the version in the Munich museum dated 1720 and another version dated 1725 without counting other portraits of the prince executed during this period (between 1720 and 1725). The Duke remarried in 1723 to Louise Dorothée von Hoffmann (March 30, 1700 – April 14, 1745), daughter of Jean Henri von Hoffman and Anne Chocq. She also converted to Catholicism in 1723 and was ennobled by the Emperor on March 3, 1724 with the title of Countess von Hoffmann. From 1723, the duke built the palace of Luisenthal for his wife. In 1724 Henri Millot received the commission for the official full-length portrait of Louise Dorothée von Hoffmann (Alte Pinakothek Munich, inv. 4472) It is very likely that following the official portrait few additional effigies of the new countess would be requested from Henri Millot the same year. The visual rapprochement between two faces fully validates our hypothesis. Henri Millot Henri Millot is a French painter born in Paris and died in Paris in 1756. He worked mainly in Paris and in close collaboration with Nicolas de Largillière (1656-1746), he was his pupil before 1699, integrating the workshop in the years 1690, he adopted the full range of effects and techniques from his master. He was a close friend of Marie-Claire Hermant, first cousin of Largillière and witnessed her marriage to Georges Roettiers on May 18, 1711. He worked in the Duchy of Two Bridges, from 1721 to 1724, and then for other German princely courts. In 1730, he was in Strasbourg, but returned definitively to Paris at the end of his life where he exhibited 2 portraits at the Academy of Saint Luke in 1756.
  • Creator:
    Henri Millot (1675 - 1756, French)
  • Creation Year:
    1724
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 41.34 in (105.01 cm)Width: 33.46 in (84.99 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    Professionnally restored, cleaned and varnished. Ready to be hanged on the wall and appreciated.
  • Gallery Location:
    PARIS, FR
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU2433212330822
More From This SellerView All
  • 17th French Portrait of Louis XIV & his brother, c. 1645, attributed to Beaubrun
    Located in PARIS, FR
    Rare double portrait depicting Louis XIV and his brother Philippe de France as children. 17th century French School, circa 1645, attributed to Charles and Henri Beaubrun. Oil on canvas, dimensions: h. 48.03, w. 35.43 in. Important 17th century carved and giltwood frame Framed dimensions: h. 60.23, w. 48.42 in. This rare portrait is part of a series of works illustrating the childhood of the two princes, mainly commissioned by Anne of Austria, the mother and regent, after the death of Louis XIII. Expressing her fierce desire to preserve her son's crown, she uses visual communication as a channel of sovereign expression. The portraits serve to strengthen the royal power weakened by the minority of the young Louis...
    Category

    Mid-17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • 18th c. French Portrait of Princess of Bourbon as Hebe, Pierre Gobert, c. 1730
    By Pierre Gobert
    Located in PARIS, FR
    Portrait of Princess of Bourbon as Hebe Pierre Gobert, circa 1730 Presumed portrait of Elisabeth Thérèse Alexandrine of Bourbon-Condé, Mademoiselle de Sens, depicted as the goddess Hebe kidnapped by Zeus, transformed into an eagle. 18th century French School, around 1730 Pierre Gobert (1662-1744) and workshop Oil on canvas Dimensions: canvas: h. 129 cm, w. 95cm Dimensions: framed: h. 156 cm, w. 124cm Louis XIV style giltwood and cardved wood frame Large and imposing portrait of the young princess portrayed seated on an eagle in the heavens. Seen from the front, the princess is dressed in a low-cut white chiffon dress, exposing her throat. Delicately made-up oval face, dominated by large blue-gray eyes is surrounded by powdered hair, raised, releasing the forehead and the ears, and of which some locks fall on his shoulder. A large blue scarf passed over the shoulder covers her knees and flies in the wind. A garland of flowers coming from the back goes over the knees and down again on the eagle. In her right hand she holds a golden goblet and in her left hand an ewer. The eagle supporting the young woman seizes in its claws the thunderbolt (the beam of fiery lightning), the attribute of Zeus. The figure of the young woman is enlivened by the fluidity of the antique drapes...
    Category

    Early 18th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • French, circa 1730 Portrait of King Louis XV in armour, workshop of J.B. Van Loo
    Located in PARIS, FR
    Portrait of French King Louis XV (1710-1774) in armour 18th century French school Workshop of Jean Baptiste Van Loo (1684-1745) Circa 1730 Oil on canvas, dimen...
    Category

    Early 18th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • 18th c. French Portrait of a Lady as Venus, attributed to Pierre Gobert
    By Pierre Gobert
    Located in PARIS, FR
    Portrait of a Lady as Venus ATTRIBUTED TO PIERRE GOBERT (1662-1744) FRENCH SCHOOL AROUND 1720 OIL ON CANVAS: H. 55.51 in, W. 42.91 in. IMPORTANT 18TH CENTURY GILTWOOD FRAME (RE-GILT)...
    Category

    Early 18th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Portrait of count Evreux, French, 18th c. studio of Hyacinthe Rigaud, circa 1705
    By Hyacinthe Rigaud
    Located in PARIS, FR
    Portrait of Henri-Louis de la Tour d'Auvergne, Comte d'Evreux Studio of Hyacinthe Rigaud (1659-1743) Early 18th century French school, circa 1705 Oil on canvas Dimensions: h. 72 cm, w. 57.5 cm Louis XIV period gilded and richly carved wood frame with flowered corners. Framed: h. 96 cm, w. 80 cm Henri-Louis de la Tour d'Auvergne (1679-1753), Count of Evreux at the age of 24. The young man is depicted standing, seen at mid-height, turned three-quarters, against a background of a sky filled with cannon smoke. Head turned to the left, a large wig falling over his shoulders, a youthful face with plain cheeks, a delicate smile from thin lips, a gentle, benevolent facial expression. The right hand rests on the command staff in the foreground, while the left arm is bent and the hand rests on the hip. He is wearing a white sash of command, the floating drapery of which appears to his right. Fully armored, his only visible adornments are the blue velvet facings at the joins of the armor pieces and the sleeves of fine white lace. Power and charisma emanate from this military portrait. The young man's stature, bearing and head carriage convey the image of a valiant warrior. The theatrical lighting abundantly illuminates the face and creates strong metallic reflections in the armor. Despite his static stance, the hair blowing in the wind enlivens the painting, lending a dynamism and vigor that amplify the model's belligerent attitude. Our work is a studio version by Hyacinthe Rigaud, the original of which was executed by the artist himself in 1703. This original portrait of the Comte d'Evreux is now housed in the Gemälde Galerie - Alte Meister in the collections of the Kassel Museum. This portrait, one of the artist's most successful, was exhibited in 1704 at the Salon de l'Académie des Beaux-Arts and received rave reviews. As for the Compte d'Evreux, as soon as the original was created, he was satisfied with the artist's work and directly commissioned several replicas, which were executed by the studio between 1703 and 1705. These studio versions, as in the case of our painting, were intended as gifts from the Count to his wartime companions or members of his family. Our work is listed in the catalog raisonné of Hyacinthe Rigaud written by the artist's specialist Mr. Stéphane Perreau (published in 2004) Provenance: former private collection in Dijon, Burgundy Henri-Louis de la Tour d'Auvergne, le comte d'Evreux was the fourth son of the Duc de Bouillon, Godefroy-Maurice de La Tour...
    Category

    Early 18th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Philippe II, Duke of Orleans, French prince, 18th c. French school
    Located in PARIS, FR
    Philippe, Duke of Orléans (1674 -1723), Regent of France Workshop of Jean Baptiste Santerre (Magny en Vexin, 1658 - Paris, 1717) French school circa 17...
    Category

    Early 18th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

You May Also Like
  • Portrait of a Lady with a Chiqueador
    Located in New York, NY
    Provenance: Torres Family Collection, Asunción, Paraguay, ca. 1967-2017 While the genre of portraiture flourished in the New World, very few examples of early Spanish colonial portraits have survived to the present day. This remarkable painting is a rare example of female portraiture, depicting a member of the highest echelons of society in Cuzco during the last quarter of the 17th century. Its most distinctive feature is the false beauty mark (called a chiqueador) that the sitter wears on her left temple. Chiqueadores served both a cosmetic and medicinal function. In addition to beautifying their wearers, these silk or velvet pouches often contained medicinal herbs thought to cure headaches. This painting depicts an unidentified lady from the Creole elite in Cuzco. Her formal posture and black costume are both typical of the established conventions of period portraiture and in line with the severe fashion of the Spanish court under the reign of Charles II, which remained current until the 18th century. She is shown in three-quarter profile, her long braids tied with soft pink bows and decorated with quatrefoil flowers, likely made of silver. Her facial features are idealized and rendered with great subtly, particularly in the rosy cheeks. While this portrait lacks the conventional coat of arms or cartouche that identifies the sitter, her high status is made clear by the wealth of jewels and luxury materials present in the painting. She is placed in an interior, set off against the red velvet curtain tied in the middle with a knot on her right, and the table covered with gold-trimmed red velvet cloth at the left. The sitter wears a four-tier pearl necklace with a knot in the center with matching three-tiered pearl bracelets and a cross-shaped earing with three increasingly large pearls. She also has several gold and silver rings on both hands—one holds a pair of silver gloves with red lining and the other is posed on a golden metal box, possibly a jewelry box. The materials of her costume are also of the highest quality, particularly the white lace trim of her wide neckline and circular cuffs. The historical moment in which this painting was produced was particularly rich in commissions of this kind. Following his arrival in Cuzco from Spain in the early 1670’s, bishop Manuel de Mollinedo y Angulo actively promoted the emergence of a distinctive regional school of painting in the city. Additionally, with the increase of wealth and economic prosperity in the New World, portraits quickly became a way for the growing elite class to celebrate their place in society and to preserve their memory. Portraits like this one would have been prominently displayed in a family’s home, perhaps in a dynastic portrait gallery. We are grateful to Professor Luis Eduardo Wuffarden for his assistance cataloguing this painting on the basis of high-resolution images. He has written that “the sober palette of the canvas, the quality of the pigments, the degree of aging, and the craquelure pattern on the painting layer confirm it to be an authentic and representative work of the Cuzco school of painting...
    Category

    17th Century Old Masters Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Italian Greyhound and Friends - Italian 17thC Old Master dog art oil painting
    By Francesco Fieravino
    Located in London, GB
    This stunning Old Master 17th century oil portrait painting is attributed to Francesco Fieravino, an artist famous in his day for still lifes and carpets. This painting which dates t...
    Category

    17th Century Old Masters Animal Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • 18th century portrait of the painter Nathaniel Dance
    Located in London, GB
    Collections: Robert Gallon (1845-1925); Private Collection, UK. Oil on canvas laid down on panel Framed dimensions: 11.5 x 10 inches This highly engaging, previously unpublished portrait by Johan...
    Category

    18th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Wood Panel, Canvas

  • Head of an Angel
    Located in New York, NY
    Procaccini was born in Bologna, but his family moved to Milan when the artist was eleven years old. His artistic education was evidently familial— from his father Ercole and his elder brothers Camillo and Carlo Antonio, all painters—but his career began as a sculptor, and at an early age: his first known commission, a sculpted saint for the Duomo of Milan, came when he was only seventeen years old. Procaccini’s earliest documented painting, the Pietà for the Church of Santa Maria presso San Celso in Milan, was completed by 1604. By this time the artist had made the trip to Parma recorded by his biographers, where he studied Correggio, Mazzola Bedoli, and especially Parmigianino; reflections of their work are apparent throughout Procaccini's career. As Dr. Hugh Brigstocke has recently indicated, the present oil sketch is preparatory for the figure of the angel seen between the heads of the Virgin and St. Charles Borrommeo in Procaccini's altarpiece in the Church of Santa Afra in Brescia (ill. in Il Seicento Lombardo; Catalogo dei dipinti e delle sculture, exh. cat. Milan 1973, no. 98, pl. 113). As such it is the only known oil sketch of Procaccini's that can be directly connected with an extant altarpiece. The finished canvas, The Virgin and Child with Saints Charles Borrommeo and Latino with Angels, remains in the church for which it was painted; it is one of the most significant works of Procaccini's maturity and is generally dated after the artist's trip to Genoa in 1618. The Head of an Angel is an immediate study, no doubt taken from life, but one stylistically suffused with strong echoes of Correggio and Leonardo. Luigi Lanzi, writing of the completed altarpiece in 1796, specifically commented on Procaccini's indebtedness to Correggio (as well as the expressions of the angels) here: “Di Giulio Cesare...
    Category

    17th Century Old Masters Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Paper, Canvas, Oil

  • 19th century portrait painted in St Petersburg in 1819
    Located in London, GB
    Signed, inscribed and dated, lower right: 'Geo Dawe RA St Petersburgh 1819', also signed with initials, lower centre: 'G D RA'; and signed and inscribed verso: 'Geo Dawe RA Pinxit 1819 St Petersburgh'; Also inscribed on the stretcher by Cornelius Varley with varnishing instructions. Collections: Private collection, UK, 2010 Literature: Galina Andreeva Geniuses of War, Weal and Beauty: George Dawe...
    Category

    19th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Canvas

  • Portrait of a Young Boy
    Located in New York, NY
    Signed and dated, lower left: Louise Hersent/ 1823 Provenance: Private Collection, Chicago, by 1996 Private Collection, Florida This charming portrait of a young boy is the work of Louise-Marie-Jeanne Hersent, a little-known woman artist of the French Restoration often identified by her maiden name, Mauduit. While Hersent—as we will call her here following the signature on the painting—has been understudied, the known details of her life and career reveal that she held a privileged position in artistic life in the early nineteenth century in Paris. She exhibited at the Salon from 1810 until 1824, and in 1821 she married the painter Louis Hersent, a successful pupil of Jacques-Louis David who was patronized by Louis XVIII and Charles X. It is likely through her husband’s royal patronage that Hersent’s Louis XIV Visits Peter the Great was purchased for the Royal Collection in Versailles. In 1806, while still Louise Mauduit, she painted a portrait of Napoleon’s youngest sister, Pauline Bonaparte...
    Category

    1820s Old Masters Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Canvas

Recently Viewed

View All