Uniquely Signed Painting By Decourt Discovered In London
A miniature painting – bought ‘unseen’ during lockdown in 2020 has been positively attributed to the 14th- century court painter Decourt. The 57mm tall likeness was originally described as Sir Walter Raleigh, but experts at Philip Mould & Co soon discovered it was an image of Henri III, King of France (1551-1589), whose remaining contemporary images are extremely scarce.
A second transformative discovery was made when a conservator opened the painting’s delicate frame and found the signature, ‘Decourt’ along with the date ‘1578’, on the reverse. Unusually, despite Decourt’s high profile and status at the time, no signed portrait had been unequivocally ascribed to this highly significant court artist. Until now.