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 (1603–1677), who is depicted here with his cousin, another portraitist, Charles Beaubrun (1604–1692). The early French art historian, André Félibien (1619–1695), 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 (1638–1683); 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/000PE011170?base=%5B%22Collections%20des%20mus%C3%A9es%20de%20France%20%28Joconde%29%22%5D&mainSearch=%22martin%20lambert%20beaubrun%22&idQuery=%22408d7f-ff8a-221-4d8-bd83ed033251%22