Oil on canvas, 45cm x 35cm.
This is possibly the painting noted in the 1763 Burghley Inventory as being in: ‘the bedchamber…Virgin Child and Eliz and Joseph by Phillipo Laura.’
In 1648 Bourdon was one of the founder members of The French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, although he spent most of his working life outside France, because of his Protestant faith.
He became court painter to Queen Christina of Sweden in 1652.
His oeuvre included portraiture, mythological history painting and landscapes in the style of Nicholas Poussin and Claude Lorraine, whose works he studied closely, although his style was generally eclectic.
