S.A.R. Mgr le Duc de Bordeaux...S.A.R. Mademoiselle...(Portr. du Comte de Chambord et la duchesse de Parme, enfants)
Medium
Lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 15 3/16 × 11 1/8 in. (38.5 × 28.2 cm) Image: 12 7/8 × 10 7/16 in. (32.7 × 26.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harry G. Friedman Bequest, 1967
Accession Number
67.539.255
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
In 1822, during France's Bourbon Restoration, this lithograph captured a tender moment of royal infancy: S.A.R. Mgr le Duc de Bordeaux (Henri, Count of Chambord, born 1820) and S.A.R. Mademoiselle (likely his sister Louise d'Artois, future Duchess of Parma). Created by a talented trio—lithographers Hyacinthe-Louis-Victor-Jean Aubry-Lecomte and Féréol de Bonnemaison, alongside painter Louis Hersent—the print depicts the siblings in ornate cradles, evoking innocence and dynastic promise amid political turbulence. Lithography, a revolutionary technique invented just two decades earlier, allowed for precise, affordable reproduction of detailed images from drawings, making elite portraits accessible beyond palace walls. Here, the medium's soft tonal gradations highlight the children's delicate features, lace-trimmed bedding, and symbols of nobility, blending realism with sentimentality characteristic of early 19th-century French printmaking. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints collection (Harry G. Friedman Bequest, 1967), this work offers a glimpse into Restoration-era propaganda, celebrating the House of Artois as heirs to the throne. Henri would later become a legitimist pretender, his cradle portrait a poignant reminder of hopes deferred.
About the Artist
Hyacinthe-Louis-Victor-Jean-Baptiste Aubry-Lecomte|Louis Hersent|Féréol de Bonnemaison (French|French) · 1767 |1797 –1824 |1858
French, Montargis 1767–1824 Paris|French, Nice 1797–1858 Paris