Antique print titled 'MADEMOISELLE DE LIMEUIL' Original antique print of Isabelle de Limeuil, a French Noblewoman .
Isabelle de la Tour, Lady of Limeuil (c. 1535 – 25 March 1609) was a French noblewoman and a Maid of Honour to the Queen Mother Catherine de' Medici.
She also formed part of Catherine's notorious "flying squadron" (L'escadron volant), a group of beautiful female spies she used for the purpose of forming sexual liaisons with various powerful men at the French court thereby extracting information which would then be passed on to her.
In about 1562 at Catherine's instigation, she became the mistress of Louis, Prince of Condé, brother of King Antoine of Navarre and one of the leading Huguenots in France. Two years later when Isabelle created a scandal by giving birth to his son whilst the court was on a royal progress, she was banished to a convent.
She later married wealthy Tuscan banker Scipion Sardini, a favoured protégé of Catherine de' Medici.
Isabelle was born in Limeuil, France in about 1535, a daughter of Gilles de la Tour, Viscount of Turenne, Baron of Limeuil and Marguerite de la Cropte, Lady of Lanquais. She went to live at the court of King Charles IX where she became one of Queen Mother Catherine de' Medici's Maids of Honour. Isabelle was distantly related to Catherine through the latter's French mother, Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne.
This print originates from ' LA MÉSANGÈRE, Pierre and LANTÉ, Louis Marie. Costumes des Femmes Françaises du XIIe au XVIIIe siècle. Paris: Librairie Charles Tallandier, 1900.
This beautiful work tracing changes in French costume from the 12th to 18th century, stunning folio-sized hand-colored engraved plates depicting period fashions on famous French women who were celebrated for their talent or their beauty in the relevant periods.
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