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FRENCH MINIATURE PORTRAIT BERNARD FRANCK COLLECTION.
Signed French miniature portrait on ivory depicting Mademoiselle Adelaide, Famille d'Orleans (of the Royal Orleans Family), Artist signed by the painter J
Couturieux. France, early 19C.
Oval measuring 4 3/4inches (116X91mm).<P>
Outstanding quality, fairly large miniature portrait. The woman is shown wearing a black silk dress with a yellow and blue scarf. Her hair is done in a fancy
style of the day and she wears a pair of chandelier pearl and diamond earrings. Great mastery of brushwork, shown throughout, but especially fine in the
facial detail with the elegant, gentle and intelligent expression.<P>
Painting is signed on the left J Couturieux.<P>
Good Condition.<P>
Back of the painting has a note from the Bernard Franck collection, stating who the sitter and artist were. <P>BERNARD FRANCK (1848-1924)
Bernard Franck was born in Paris in 1848. He was a veteran of the 1870 Franco-Prussian War, during which he was awarded the Medaille Militaire. He was an
industrialist, specializing in the manufacturing of military equipment. His success in business enabled him to become an inveterate collector.
He amassed his vast collection over 45 years from 1875 to 1920. The collection consisted of 18th Century and early 19th Century objects – miniature portraits
(many emphasizing military subjects), medals and decorations, armory, uniforms, paintings, engravings, a variety of bibelots.
Besides the miniature portraits, especially noteworthy was Franck’s collection of Carnets de Bal (dance cards). He sold this collection to J.P.Morgan around
1910. Before doing so, he had the collection reproduced in an album entitled "Collection de 124 carnets de bal du XVIIIe siecle/formee par M.Bernard Franck a
Paris de l’annee 1875 au 23 avril 1902". Only 20 albums were produced, of which one is in the Watson Library of the Metropolitan Museum and one in the Morgan
Library, autographed by Franck to Morgan. Franck died in 1924. The collection that follows has been held within the family since that time.
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