Follower of Martin Lambert

A copy after the double portrait by Martin Lambert, at Versailles (inv. no. MV 5885), painted as a presentation piece ('morceau de réception') for the Paris Académie, in 1675.¹ Lambert was a pupil of Henri Beaubrun (1603-77), who is depicted here with his cousin, another portraitist, Charles Beaubrun (1604-92). The early French art historian, André Félibien (1619-95), recorded that the cousins would work alternately on a single portrait using the same palette, as is depicted here. The portrait they are working on is presumed to be that of Queen Marie Thérèse of France (1638-83); it is shown in the early stages of execution, an outline drawing traced in white on a dark ground. Other recorded copies of the unusual composition are those by Elisa Anfray, 1849, and Héléna Darmesteter, 1892.

¹ https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/joconde/000PE011170base=%5B%22Collections%20des%20mus%C3%A9es%20de%20France%20%28Joconde%29%22%5D&mainSearch=%22martin%20lambert%20beaubrun%22&idQuery=%22408d7f0-ff8a-221-4d8-bd83ed033251%22