Oil on canvas, 108cm by 36.4cm.
Henrietta Maria (1609-1669) was the youngest daughter of King Henry IV of France and his second wife Marie de Medici.
She was married to King Charles I in 1625 and both became great collectors and patrons of the arts.
She returned to France impoverished, after Charles’s execution in 1649, but at the Restoration in 1660, when her son became King Charles II, she returned to England.
Ill health eventually led to her return to France, where she died.
The painting is listed in the 1690 Devonshire Schedule, an inventory recording a magnificent bequest from Elizabeth, Countess of Devonshire (1619-1689) to her daughter Anne, Countess of Exeter (1649-1703).
‘Oyle Colour Pictures..A picture of Mary Queen to Charles the ffirst in a White fframe.’
