Pierre GOBERT Fontainebleau, 1662 - Paris, 1744 Portrait of Charlotte Grimaldi, known as Mademoiselle de Valentinois, aged three in 1722, playing with a monkey Oil on canvas Captioned 'MLE DE. VALENTINOIS. AGEE. OF. THREE.YEARS. 1722' at top Annotated 'Portrait / de mademoiselle de / Valentinois âgée de trois / ans peint par Gobert au / mois de May 1722.' in ink on verso Portrait of Charlotte Grimaldi at the age of three years old, oil on canvas, captioned and annotated, by P. Gobert 59,50 x 49,50 cm (23,43 x 19,49 in.) Provenance: Sale of the Jean Barville collection, Paris, Deburaux et Associés, 9 June 2006, no. 5; Private collection, Paris Bibliography: Eugène Thoison, 'Recherches sur les artistes se rattachant au Gâtinais. VII, Pierre Gobert portraitiste, supplément au catalogue de son œuvre', Paris, 1906, p. 9 Léon-Honoré Labande, 'Les portraits des princes et princesses de Monaco exécutés par le peintre Pierre Gobert', Monaco, 1908, p. 55-56 Comment: Among the important clientele of the famous portrait painter Pierre Gobert was the family of the princes of Monaco. Jacques-François-Léonor de Matignon, who took the name and coat of arms of the Grimaldis and was given the title of Duke of Valentinois after his marriage to Louise-Hippolyte, daughter of Prince Antoine I of Monaco, commissioned several portraits from the painter. Here, Gobert painted the portrait of one of the couple's daughters, Charlotte Grimaldi, born on 19 May 1719. As soon as the child was born, Louise-Hippolyte's mother, Marie de Lorraine, begged her daughter to send her a portrait of her granddaughter. She must have received a first work in 1719, which she mentions in a letter dated 6 October 1719. But on 20 February 1720, she asked for a new painting, which she does not seem to have received until the end of 17231. However, the accounts of the Duc de Valentinois show that the painter received three louis worth a total of 135 livres on 31 May 1722 for the portrait he painted of Mademoiselle de Valentinois2. This payment undoubtedly refers to our portrait of the little girl at the age of 3. Pierre Gobert later painted another portrait of Charlotte as a visitandine, aged 14, which is kept in the Saint-Lô museum. 1 See on these exchanges: Léon-Honoré Labande, 'Les portraits des princes et princesses de Monaco exécutés par le peintre Pierre Gobert', Monaco, 1908, p. 55-56. 2 Archives of Monaco. Menues dépenses de M. le Duc de Valentinois, H. 43, see Eugène Thoison, 'Recherches sur les artistes se rattachant au Gâtinais. VII, Pierre Gobert portraitiste, supplément au catalogue de son œuvre', Paris, 1906, p. 9. This lot is being sold for the benefit of the 30 Millions d'Amis foundation. This lot is being sold in aid of 30 Millions d'Amis.