Gedeon Romandon (1667 Venice - 1697 Berlin) attr; Portrait of Éléonore Desmier d'Olbreuse, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Celle, Princess of Lüneburg and Countess of Harburg and Wilhelmsburg Representative, half-length portrait of the seated Duchess (1639 - 1722) in a splendid dress and blue ermine coat, holding the ducal hat in her right hand. The Duchess combined beauty with education and intelligence; she was the progenitor of the royal houses of England, Hanover and Prussia. Born into the lower landed gentry, Éléonore enchanted Georg Wilhelm von Braunschweig-Lüneburg (1624 - 1705) at a meeting, who made her his mistress in 1664. In 1666, she gave birth to Sophie Dorothea, who became Elector Princess of Brunswick-Lüneburg by marriage and de jure Queen of Great Britain from 1714, going down in history as the "Princess of Ahlden". Éléonore herself was married in 1674, initially in a morganatic marriage to Georg Wilhelm "on the left hand". After she was elevated to Countess of Harburg and Wilhelmsburg by Emperor Leopold I, the official marriage finally took place in 1676. Éléonore used her influence to ensure that Georg Wilhelm was the first German sovereign to issue an edict on the admission of Huguenots as early as 1684. She was also instrumental in the negotiations that led to the Peace of Celle between France, Sweden and the Guelphs in 1679. Gedeon Romandon was the son of the French Huguenot painter Abraham Romandon and fled with his family from France to Berlin in 1685/86, where he became court painter to Frederick William Elector of Brandenburg (known as "the Great Elector") and his son Frederick III (later King Frederick I). Oil on canvas, double; verso old inventory label label "Schloss Blankenburg Gemälde-Verzeichnis Nr. 0520", also old handwritten label with details of the sitter and attribution to Romandon; 97.5 cm x 80 cm. Frame. Provenance: Royal House of Hanover, Blankenburg Castle; Auction "The Royal House of Hanover/Das Königshaus von Hannover", Sotheby's, Marienburg Castle, 5-15 Oct. 2005, Cat. Vol. II, p. 273, lot 33; Lower Saxony private collection. Attributed to Gedeon Romandon (1667 - 1697). Oil on canvas, relined. Inventory label or Schloss Blankenburg, further an old handwritten label with information about the sitter and attribution to Gedeon Romandon.