Louise de Lorraine, Wife of Henry III
Unknown Artist
1776 to 1800
Medium
engraving
Dimensions
sheet: 16.3 × 11.5 cm (6 7/16 × 4 1/2 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1950.14.791
Art Historical Context
This delicate engraving portrays Louise de Lorraine, the devoted wife of King Henry III of France (r. 1574–1589), capturing her poised elegance amid one of France's most turbulent eras—the French Wars of Religion. queen consort, Louise was renowned for her piety and resilience; after her husband's assassination in 1589, she retreated to a convent, living in mourning until her death in 1601. Created between 1776 and 1800, this late 18th-century print a renewed fascination with royal history during the Enlightenment and early Revolutionary period, when artists revived images of past monarchs to ...