Leopold Clement, Hereditary Prince of Lorraine, Pierre Gobert and Studio

18th century French portrait of a young nobleman traditionally identified as Léopold Clément, Hereditary Prince of Lorraine - ( Léopold Clément Charles; 25 April 1707 – 4 June 1723) by Pierre Gobert and studio.

The attractive young sitter is painted three-quarter length within an extensive landscape. He has rosy cheeks and rosebud lips and with his doe eyes he greets the viewer with the softest and most beguiling of expressions.

He wears an elaborate costume of lace stock and heavily embroidered shimmering hunting jacket. With his gloved hand on his hip, he holds his hat, and with the other his cane with gold handle.

Léopold Clément, Hereditary Prince of Lorraine -(Léopold Clément Charles; 25 April 1707 – 4 June 1723) was heir apparent to the throne of the sovereign Duchy of Lorraine.His father was the reigning Duke of Lorraine and his mother a member of the House of Bourbon, then ruling the Kingdom of France. He became the Hereditary Prince at the death of his older brother Louis in 1711, but died of smallpox in 1723 at the age of sixteen, unmarried and without descendants.

He was born at the Château de Lunéville to Léopold, Duke of Lorraine and his wife Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans.Léopold was the third son born to his parents. His eldest brother, also Léopold (1699–1700), died aged eight months.

Three other older siblings died in an outbreak of smallpox at Lunéville: Élisabeth Charlotte (1700–1711), Marie Gabrièle Charlotte (1702–1711) and Louis (1704–1711). The smallpox epidemic had killed other royalty such as the Grand Dauphin and the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I at the same time.In 1722 Léopold also became the heir to the Duchy of Teschen which was given to his father in compensation for his father's maternal grandmother's rights to the Duchy of Montferrat in northern Italy, which Emperor Charles VI had taken and given to his allies, the Dukes of Savoy.

In 1723 he was sent to Vienna to carry out his education under the supervision of Charles VI, his father's first cousin. Another reason for his journey was to forge a Habsburg-Lorraine alliance through a marriage with the Archduchess Maria Theresa. Soon afterward the prince caught smallpox at Lunéville and quickly died at the Château there. He was buried in the Ducal Crypt at the Church of Saint-François-des-Cordeliers, Nancy. His younger brother Francis Stephen became the Hereditary Prince and later married Maria Theresa, Habsburg heiress and future Queen regnant of Hungary and Bohemia.

PIERRE GOBERT (1662-1744) Born at Fontainebleau, the son of the sculptor and engraver Jean Gobert II (1627-c.1681), Pierre Gobert learnt to paint in his father’s studio and began to work for the court at a very young age. He spent most of his time in Paris and became a member of the Académie in 1701.

His reputation as Louis XIV court’s portraitist is illustrated by the substantial collection at Versailles, including portraits of the Duchess of Maine, Anne-Lucie de la Mothe-Houdancourt and the Duchess of Burgundy. Amongst his numerous male portraits is a portrait of Louis XV as a boy. Gobert exhibited at the Salon in 1704 and 1737.

From 1707-9 the artist settled in Lunéville working for the court of Lorraine where he painted an impressive group of seventy portraits, among them that of Léopold, Duke of Lorraine and his wife Elizabeth-Charlotte d’Orleans.

This fine work is in an excellent state of conservation and is presented ready to hang and enjoy in its original fine quality 18th century frame which has ben sympathetically regilded.

Higher resolution images on request. Worldwide shipping available.

Canvas: 86cm x 67cm. Framed: 105cm x 85 cm.