HENRY PIERCE BONE (BRITISH 1779-1855) Sébastien Bourdon (1616-1671) Portrait miniature of Countess Ebba Sparre (1629-1662), wearing blue dress with shawl, pearls and blue ribbon in her hair dated 1853 enamel on copper, the counter-enamel signed, dated and inscribed ‘Christina/ Queen of Sweden/ Febry:, 1853. Painted by Henry/ Pierce Bone, after a picture/ by Sebastian Bourdon/ collection of Jos. Neeld Esq./ M.P. &c.’ chased gilded metal mount oval, 102mm (4in) high PROVENANCE: Possibly originally commissioned by Joseph Neeld, M.P. (1789–1856) The present enamel by Henry Pierce Bone is a copy of a portrait by Sébastien Bourdon, which is now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Bone specialised in copying old master paintings in enamel and carefully inscribed the counter enamel with details of the painting and as in this case the name of the patron who commissioned it. In this example, it appears that Bone, believed the sitter to be Christina, Queen of Sweden, however the sitter is in fact her lady in waiting and reputed lover, the Countess Ebba Sparre, later Ebba de la Gardie. Queen Christina, who commissioned the work by Bourdon and in whose collection it remained, was one of the most remarkable monarchs to have reigned in early modern Europe. The daughter of Gustavus Adolphus II, the hero king of Sweden who had brought the country to a position of unprecedented power and influence during the Thirty Years’ War, she was thrust into political prominence aged only six following the death of her father in battle. Crowned king – and not queen, a title to which no political power was affixed in Sweden – Christina astonished contemporaries by the unconventionality of her rule. She was well educated and from a young age showed exceptional intellect. She took a keen interest in the emerging sciences, philosphy, theology and the arts. As a child she was raised as a boy by her father, and as a woman she favoured more masculine dress and was not interested in many of the trappings of femininity that were expected by the standards of the day. It appears that although there was enormous pressure on her to marry, she rejected the idea and there is some evidence that she was attracted to women. Countess Ebba Sparre was one suspected love interest. The daughter of a courtier, she had been taken into the care of Queen Christina following the death of her father. Much remains ambiguous about their subsequent relationship, but it is clear from historical records that they were close. She was known to Christina as “La belle dame”, a mark of affection that was in itself extraordinary given that Christina generally held her female courtiers in low regard for what she perceived as their feminine weakness. She wrote passionate letters to her and they were known to have shared a bed, although this was not unusual at the time, her outspoken admiration for Ebba Sparre's outward and inner beauty was considered quite provocative amongst her court. In 1654, aged 28, Christina made the decision to abdicate the throne. Having questioned the Lutheran faith that she was raised in, she decided to abandon it in favour of Catholicism. She named her cousin Karl Gustav as her heir in 1649 and was granted a pension. Unable to remain in Sweden, she settled in Rome, where she established herself as a major patron of the arts. Whilst abroad, she kept up a correspondence with the Countess Sparre but although Christina returned to Sweden on one final occasion in late 1660, she never saw Ebba Sparre again, who died in 1662.