Henri Gascars

A Portrait of a Lady as Venus with Cupid
Thought to be Nell Gwyn with her Son

in an ornate painted oval, oil on canvas

40"×50" (102.9 cm×127 cm)

PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, Greenwich, CT

NOTE: Henri Gascars went to finish his training in Rome between 1659 to about 1667. In 1672 his morceau de réception, a portrait of the Grand Dauphin, was rejected by the Academié. This setback must have fueled his decision to come to London soon after. It is believed that he was brought over by Louise de Kérovaille, the Duchess of Portsmouth. Louise de Kérovaille was an extraordinary adventuress who had arrived in England in 1670. By 1671 she was mistress to Charles II.

Gascars became closely associated with the court and enjoyed phenomenal success, becoming a serious threat to Sir Peter Lely’s pre-eminence in London. Some time after March 1678 having made a small fortune, Gascars returned by way of Holland to France, where he was finally accepted as a member of the Académie. In 1681 he moved to Italy and died in Rome twenty years later.

The use of Cupid for the introduction of the notion of love and affairs of the heart seems to have been one particularly utilized for portraits of Charles II’s mistresses and court beauties. The only sitter in England at this time to have been depicted as revealingly as this Venus, was Nell Gwyn. She was painted in this manner in works both by Gascars and Simon Verelst.

Nell Gwyn (1650-1687) was one of the most famous of Charles II’s mistresses. She was the arch-rival of the Duchess of Portsmouth, and known for her ready wit. She bore Charles two sons in 1670 and 1671, and retained favor until his death in 1685.

Gascars commonly used an oval format in his portraits, although none quite compare to the elaborateness of the ovals of this work. It is quite possible that this painting was intended for a specific decorative scheme, perhaps meant to be set into panels of a room with the painted oval acting as the frame.

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