Versailles and More

Le Beau Sancy: going, going, gone!

And sadly gone out of sight too. This week an anonymous bidder paid $9.7 million, several times the pre-auction estimate, for the historic stone, sold by Sotheby’s at its Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels auction in Geneva. Which means we will probably never see it again.

A few decades ago, the Louvre purchased its almost namesake, the Sancy. So I was hoping this would happen again. But no… The two diamonds are named after the same adventurer, Nicolas Harlay de Sancy. I did not find any evidence that both diamonds came from the same rough (but would welcome information to that effect.) They were both part of the French crown jewels, albeit at different dates and under different circumstances.

The Beau Sancy was purchased by King Henri IV as a gift for his second wife, Marie de Medicis. The Queen wore it as a finial to her crown during her coronation, as seen in this portrait by Frans Pourbus the Younger. An event that took place one day before the beloved King’s assassination. After Queen Marie’s drawn-out battle for power with her son, Louis XIII, her exile and dire financial difficulties, she sold the exceptional stone, which then passed successively to the Dutch, English and Prussian reigning families.

So indeed I would have loved for it to join its larger brother in the Galerie d’Apollon in the Louvre (more…)

16th of May 1770: wedding of the Dauphin Louis-Auguste and Archduchess Marie-Antoinette

Louis-Auguste was 15, Marie-Antoinette 14. A marriage that began with mutual distrust and disdain, and ended in the closest of bonds…

For details on the marriage certificate, misspellings, ink stains and all, see this post, and also this one on 18th century bridal attire (more…)

The Virgin and Child, with St. Anne, by Leonardo Da Vinci

To celebrate Mother’s Day, a Leonardo, The Virgin and Child, with Saint Anne. So here we have two mothers: the Blessed Virgin, of course, and her own mother, Saint Anne. You may admire the masterpiece at Le Louvre. At Leonardo’s death, the painting (oil on wood) was purchased by his last and most devoted patron, King François I. It then left the royal collections at some point, but was later reacquired by Louis XIII. It has remained part of the French royal, then national collections, ever since.

The composition is triangular, with Saint Ann as the summit. To the left, the Virgin is leaning towards the Child, himself preoccupied by the lamb, symbolizing the passion of Easter. Leonardo, as often, chooses an unusual image: Mary is sitting in her own mother’s lap. What better way to describe the bond of maternal love uniting three generations?

Two further notes: Sigmund Freud devoted an essay to this painting (more…)