François de TROY (Toulouse 1645-Paris 1730) Portrait of Françoise Marie Michau (1665-1715) Marquise d'Espinay, wife of René Le Prestre, 8th Marquis d'Espinay Canvas Unframed bears a coat-of-arms in the upper right, with the arms of the Le Prestre family; a recent inscription on a label on the reverse of the stretcher reads label on the reverse of the stretcher "De Troy". 75 x 59 cm Old restorations, lifting and missing parts In the upper right corner of the canvas are the coat of arms identified as that of the Le Prestre family, accompanied by the motto "Sacerdos in aeternum" ("Priest for eternity"), surmounted by the marquise crown. Françoise-Marie Le Prestre, née Michau, married René Le Prestre (1655-1724), seigneur de Lézonnet and 8th marquis d'Espinay, in 1683. The latter was a member of the Third Estate, advocate general at the Grand Council, seneschal of the Présidial of Rennes, treasurer of the Estates of Brittany (in 1687) and president à mortier at the Parliament of Brittany. The Le Prestre family maintained ties with painter François de Troy, who painted portraits of their son Louis Le Prestre and his wife Marie de Soul de Beaujour between 1722 and 1723 (see D. Brême, François de Troy, Paris, 1997, p. 176-177). We thank Dominique Brême for confirming this attribution.