Queen (Mary Beatrice d'Este) of Modena (1658 - 1718)

attributed to Alexis-Simon Belle (Paris 1674 – Paris 1734). Oil painting on canvas, Queen (Mary Beatrice d'Este) of Modena (1658 - 1718), attributed to Alexis-Simon Belle (Paris 1674 – Paris 1734), after François de Troy (Toulouse 1645 - Paris 1730). In blue velvet robe with white fur trim; rs, (wearing Coronation Robes). Like almost all the French portraits at Sizergh, this one was previously ascribed to Hyacinthe Rigaud (1659–1743), which cannot be right, both on account of its style, and because he never painted the exiled Stuarts.Who did paint it is much harder to determine. The image has clearly been reduced from a three-quarter-length, apparently to make it a pair to the James II. This could suggest that it is the portrait of herself by de Troy that is known to have been owned by the exiled Queen. But the handling seems cruder than de Troy’s, whilst the French frame of c.1700 appears to be original to the picture. This may therefore be an adapted copy by the exiled Stuarts’ painter, Alexis-Simon Belle, of a lost original by de Troy. Sizergh Castle, Cumbria