ATTRIBUTED TO MARIANNE LOIR (Paris, circa 1715-1769)... Lot 44

ATTRIBUTED TO MARIANNE LOIR (Paris, circa 1715-1769) Presumed portrait of Mademoiselle de Charolais in a Franciscan habit. Height. 55 Width. 43 cm. Provenance: Touraine collection. A presumed portrait of Mademoiselle de Charolais in a franciscan robe, attributed to Loir. Canvas. Granddaughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Maintenon, Louise-Anne de Bourbon, known as Mademoiselle de Charolais (1695-1758) was reputed to be of loose morals. In repentance, she sometimes wore the Franciscan's robe of bure, as narrated by the abbot Bellanger. The princess had been waited in vain for more than six hours for the laying of the foundation stone of a church, which she supported financially: "On this occasion, having to receive the thanks of the chapter of Saint Honoré and the notables of Neuilly, she had the strange fantasy of having herself painted by Boucher in the habit of a nun, choosing the costume of the most austere and hardest order, that of the Franciscans. Then Voltaire, one of his regular guests, addressed to him the all-too-familiar impromptu: "Brother Angel of Charolais, tell us by what adventure the cord of St. Francis, etc., etc., was made. "(History of Neuilly, 1855)