FOLLOWER OF JACOB FERDINAND VOET | Portrait of Hortense Mancini, Duchesse de Mazarin (1646-1699), half-length, in the guise of Aphrodite

With Historical Portraits, London;

From whom purchased by a private collector;

By whom sold, London, Christie's South Kensington, 23 April 2009, lot 87 (as Attributed to Voet), where acquired by the present owners.

The composition derives from the oval portrait in the collection of the Earl of Sandwich at Mapperton House, Dorset.¹ Ortensia de Mancini, Duchesse de Mazarin, was the fourth of the five famous Mancini sisters noted for their great beauty. Ortensia was mistress of King Charles II (1630-85), until a flirtation with the Prince of Monaco saw her fall from favour.

1 F. Petrucci, Ferdinand Voet 1639-1689, detto Ferdinando de' Ritratti, Rome, 2005, p. 193, no. 129a, fig. 8.