Victor-amédée II Of Savoy Circa 1690 - Workshop Of Henri Gascard

Oil on oval canvas placed in a rectangle.
The young Duke of Savoy is portrayed as Apollo, the curved arch symbolizing part of his divine prerogatives: "It is with the help of his famous bow, an attribute that he shares with Artemis, that Apollo defeated the monsters. of the previous divine generation, the Titans, the Cyclops as well as Python. »(Cf. The bow, the lyre and the laurel of Apollo: from the emblematic attribute to the theatrical object. Anne-Sophie Noël, Revue Gaïa)
Victor-Amédée II is therefore presented to us as the powerful son of Zeus . Dressed in the antique style, the toga held by a rich fibula set with a ruby and a rock crystal pearl, he shows the curved arch which allowed his exploits. Also, we will not fail to be seduced by the disturbing beauty of the "prince of the Alps". Isn't Apollo the embodiment of male beauty? This portrait is a variation of the one painted by Henri Gascard for the Spanish royal collection now in the Prado Museum in Madrid. It is presented in a carved and gilded wooden frame from the end of the 18th century.

Provenance: old Chevron-Villette collection
Dimensions: 77 x 60 cm - 100 x 83 cm with the frame
Sold with invoice and certificate of expertise.

Victor-Amédée II (Turin 14.05.1666 - Moncalieri 31.10.1732) is the son of Charles-Emmanuel II and Marie-Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours. In 1675, he succeeded his father and became the 15th Duke of Savoy and the 34th Lord of Savoy (before being a duchy, Savoy was a county). When he took the throne, he was only 9 years old and power was entrusted to his mother. In 1684, he married his first cousin, Anne d'Orléans, daughter of Philippe d'Orléans (brother of Louis XIV) and Henriette of England. This marriage allows him to remove his mother from power and take the reins. Victor-Amédée II was Prince of Piedmont and Duke of Savoy from 1675 to 1730, King of Sicily from 1713 to 1720, then King of Sardinia from 1720 to 1730. Through his policy of reversing alliances - sometimes an ally of France, sometimes of the Empire - Victor-Amédée II managed to strengthen and enlarge his States, which earned him the nickname of Savoy Fox.

Henri Gascard (Paris 1635 - Rome 1701) (Gascar or Gascars) is the son of the painter and sculptor Pierre Gascard. Over the years, he forged a solid reputation and moved to England in 1674. Probably under the patronage of King Charles II's favorite, Louise de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth, he experienced consecration. During his stay in England, he produced many portraits of the aristocracy at court. At the turn of the year 1680, in the turmoil left by the papist plot and in a deleterious anticatholic climate, he returned to Paris. On October 26 of that same year, he was received at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. Finally, he puts his brushes in Rome where he pursues a rich career.