Attributed to Jean DUCAYER (active between 1605 and 1635) - Lot 19

Attributed to Jean DUCAYER (active between 1605 and 1635) Christ the Child and the Virgin Pair of octagonal marbles with Rhine pebble inlays, oval view. Inscribed on the back Garofalo. 30.5 x 26.1 cm Moulded and gilded oak frames, French work of the Louis XVI period. In the abundant production of portraits by Jean Ducayer and Jean Leblond, this pair stands out for its religious subject. The impression is created that Anne of Austria and the infant Louis XIV served as models for the two sacred figures, in keeping with the royal family's propaganda at the time of the Fronde. In some engravings of the period, the couple formed by Anne of Austria and Louis XIV is seen as a counterpart to the Virgin and Child Jesus, with the Queen Regent, in mourning, wishing to be associated with the most perfect of mothers: the Virgin Mary. These two pendants, destined for an enthusiast, are highly polished with the inclusion of faux rhinestones, shiny pebbles from the Rhine, and are probably a "regard", i.e. a pair of inseparable paintings, framed separately (unlike diptychs), almost a genre in its own right in France during the regency of Anne of Austria.