According to the inscription on this small portrait, it is a likeness of Catherine de’ Medici (1519–1589), queen of France. Orphaned at a young age, when she was fourteen she was married to Henry (1519–1559), second son of King Francis I of France. Henry became heir to the throne when his older brother died in 1536; he was crowned King Henry II in 1547. The marriage between Henry and Catherine, arranged for dynastic purposes, resulted in them having thirteen children together: three of their sons were later kings of France, and two of their daughters became queens consort. This portrait of Catherine as a young girl was painted in the 1530s, probably by a master at the court in Fontainebleau who had studied in Italy. The inscription describing the sitter as the “queen mother” is clearly a later addition.
Inscribed above: LA RONE MERE [later addition]
Inscribed below: CATERINE · DE · MEDICIS · REINE · DE · FRANCE · [later addition]
Pigler, Andor, Katalog der Galerie Alter Meister, 1-2. Museum der Bildenden Künste, Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest. 2, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1967, p. 246.
Szigethi, Ágnes – Nyerges, Éva – Ruzsa, György – Barkóczi, István – Tátrai, Vilmos, Tátrai, Vilmos (ed.), Old Masters’ Gallery; A Summary Catalogue of Italian, French, Spanish and Greek Paintings: Museum of Fine Arts Budapest 1, Budapest, 1991, p. 1.
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