Examples of the Northern Schools in this same collection include
portraits of _Elisabeth Stuart_, Queen of Bohemia, daughter of James I
of England, by Mierevelt and of the _Duke of Neubourg_ by Van Dyck.
In the Salerno Collection is an interesting little work by Ingres
representing _Paolo Malatesta and Francesca da Rimini_ in the ecstasy of
their first kiss, and also a portrait of a _Young Woman_ by Van Loo and
some fine mosaics from Herculaneum and Pompeii.
Although this Salerno Collection is full of interest in itself, compared
with later acquisitions it is but of secondary importance. It was French
Art that chiefly attracted the Duke, and he consequently missed no
opportunity of extending his purchases in that direction. From the
well-known firm of Colnaghi in Pall Mall he bought portraits of members
of the Valois family, such as, for instance, _Henri II_ as a child
(attributed to Clouet), and as King by Primaticcio; the _Comte de Cossé
Brissac_; _Madame and Mademoiselle de Longueville_, by Beauburn; and
other portraits by Mignard, Largillière, etc.
At the Bernal Sale in 1855 he acquired for 6,000 francs the
much-discussed portrait of _Odet de Coligny_; portraits of _Queen
Eleonore_, of _Henri II_, of _Henri III_, of _Elisabeth of Austria_, and
of _Louis XIV_, the last named of these being by Hyacinthe Rigaud.
At the famous Utterson Sale the Prince acquired some of those wonderful
sixteenth-century French drawings which formed the nucleus of his unique
collection of this branch of art; and at about the same period he also
bought a number of engravings, amongst which were fine examples by Marc
Antonio Raimondi and Rembrandt.
From the collection of his brother the Duke of Orleans he bought _The
Assassination of the Duc de Guise_ by Delaroche, and a painting by
Descamps; and at the Lawrence Sale in 1856 secured a portrait of his
ancestor _Philippe Egalité_ by Sir Joshua Reynolds. This was apparently
a sketch for the life-size portrait commissioned by the Prince of Wales
(afterwards George IV) during the French Prince's exile in England. The
larger picture, formerly at Carlton House, was destroyed by fire in
1820, which greatly enhances the value of the sketch at Chantilly.
The portraits of _Mazarin_ and _Richelieu_ by Philippe de Champaigne,
now at Chantilly, were formerly at Château d'Eu, and formed part of
Louis Philippe's collection, as also did de Troy's _Déjeuner d'Huîtres_
and Lancret's _Déjeuner de Jambon_. From the same source came two
splendid cabinets by Riesener and the Beauvais furniture now in one of
the salons of the Petit Château.
The Prince was evidently a great admirer of Poussin, for in 1854 he
acquired for 9,175 francs the celebrated _Massacre of the Innocents_,
and in 1860 another work by the same master, _Thésée découvrant l'épée
de son père_, which is typical of that artist's particular style.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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