An Equestrian Portrait of Henri François de Foix de Candalle (1640 - 1714), in an Extensive Landscape, before a Fortified Castle, possibly the Château de Vincennes.

PROVENANCE:
Stephen Ram Esq. (according to a label on the reverse).

NOTE:
Henri François de Foix de Candalle, Duc de Randan, Marquis de Sennecey, was born in 1604 and succeeded to the title on the death of his brother, Jean Baptiste Gaston de Foix in 1665. He served with the army at the Battle of Tounay in 1667 and was made a Chevalier of the Orders of Saint Louis and Saint Esprit in 1688. Little is known of his military career other than that he inherited a Cavalry regiment from his father in 1652. The unit served in the Franche-Courte and in Rousillon in the 1660's but was reduced to one company during the peace of 1668-71. Reactivated in the later years it campaigned in the Low Countries and again in the Franche-Comté until 1674 when Henri sold it to the Marquis de Biran.

This painting possibly belongs to a series of paintings in Skokloster's Castle in Sweden of French aristocratic ladies on horseback. Another painting, presumably from this same series, of 'Mme La Comtesse de Soisson' was also with Rafael Valls and also depicts the Château de Vincennes in the background.