Portrait of Jacques-Auguste De Thou (?)

Description Portraiture, which flourished in the 16th century in France, continued for the most part in the Franco-Flemish tradition of the realistic, straight-forward likeness established at the end of the Middle Ages. Painted enamel on copper was a good medium for small portrits because the image is so clear and has something of the glossy character admired in objects intended for decoration of the home.

Provenance Germeau Collection, no. 5; Frédéric Spitzer, Paris, by purchase; Sale, Paul Chevallier and Charles Mannheim, Paris, April 17, 1893, no. 537; Sigismond Bardac, Paris, by purchase; Liquidation Sale, Seligmann Bros., Paris, March 16-17, 1914, no. 73; Arnold Seligmann, Rey & Co., New York, 1914, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1914, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [signature] P. C.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1914