Portrait of a Prince, French School, mid 18th Century.

Oil on canvas, oval 74cm by 61cm. A pair to PIC542.
Following correspondence in 1949 between Myra, 5th Marchioness of Exeter and Sir Henry Hake, then Director of the National Portrait Gallery (My/P/95), the portrait was identified as being that of Louis XV’s eldest son, the Dauphin; showing marked similarities to portraits of him in the NPG’s collection. The Dauphin predeceased his father, and it was his son who became the ill-fated Louis XVI on his grandfather’s death in 1774.