François-Henri d'Harcourt

François-Henri d'Harcourt (12 January 1726 – 22 July 1802) was a French general, duke and peer.

François-Henri d'Harcourt
Portrait by Fragonard (c. 1769)

He emigrated during the French Revolution, and he became a representative of Louis XVIII of France to the British government (1792–1800).

Personal life

D'Harcourt was born in Paris as son of Anne Pierre d'Harcourt, a Marshal of France, and Thérèse Eulalie de Beaupoil de Saint Aulaire.

He married, 13 June 1752, Catherine Scholastica Aubusson, (1733–1815). Their daughter Anne (1753–1778) married Victurnien-Jean-Baptiste de Rochechouart, Duke of Mortemarts. D'Harcourt died in Staines, England, aged 76.

Portrait

On 5 December 2013, in Bonhams's salerooms in New Bond Street, London, a portrait of d'Harcourt by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, one of his Fantastical Portraits, sold for £17,106,500 sterling, setting a world-record price for the artist at auction. The previous record was £5,300,000 for a painting sold in London in 1999. The sum paid was also the highest price for an Old Master painting sold at auction anywhere in the world in 2013. Bonhams's sale of paintings and sculpture from the collection of the German philanthropist, the late Dr Gustav Rau, raised more than £19 million, with the proceeds benefiting the Foundation of the German Committee for UNICEF – for the children of the world.[1][2] The painting was also previously sold for £340,000 in 1971 (equivalent to $4,240,000 in 2019), when the d'Harcourt family collection was dispersed.[3]

References
  1. "Fragonard Portrait Fetches Record $27.9 Million in London". Bloomberg.com. 6 December 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  2. "Fragonard Portrait on View at Bonhams Geneva Prior to Benefit Sale". artfixdaily.com/. 8 August 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  3. "Jean Honoré Fragonard (French, 1732-1806) Portrait of François-Henri, 5th duc d'Harcourt, half-length and looking over his shoulder to his left". Bonhams. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
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