Portrait of Gabrielle des Courtis (?)

Description This portrait, painted in 1864, is of Gabrielle des Courtis who became a Carmelite nun in Poitiers the following year and who, by 1901, became the Prioress of the Convent. She is shown in a three-quarter profile, from the bust up, wearing a dark nun's habit and wide white collar, and her hair is completely covered by a dark veil. The painting was altered at some point by adding the nun's wimple and veil. Between 1901 and 1903, the subject's brother, the Marquis de Courtis, adressed four letters to Henner noting that his mother had had the portait altered to show her daughter as a nun and asking if the artist could undo the transformation.

Provenance Marquis des Courtis, 1864 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Montbron, Marquis des Courtis, 1903 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Mrs. L. Whiting Farinhold, Hunt Valley, Maryland [a descendant of the Morrice family of Canadian painter James Wilson Morrice of Montreal], 1937 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1992, by gift.

Credit Gift of Mrs. L. Whiting Farinholt, 1992