1903 Diane de la Bouchère by Vittorio Matteo Corcos (auctioned by Dorotheum)

An excerpt from the Dorotheum's notes follows:  "This type of formal depiction was favoured by the upper class, such as the sitter, who can be identified as Madame de la Bouchère, wife of Prince Odescalchi and then Ruspoli. She was also the daughter-in-law of Prime Minister Antonio di Rudinì.

She is standing in full length in a sumptuous, long silk dress with a mink bolero in the tradition of an official portrait of the Belle Époque. Her ermine coat is left on a chair.

Madame de la Bouchère’s dress is painted with outstanding virtuosity. The material is almost palpable and the details are executed with extreme meticulousness.

With dark eyes, she gazes directly at the viewer, which creates an affinity between the sitter and the viewer.

Corcos was particularly sensitive to the physical likeness and the psychological character of the sitter, as evident in the present lot. Here, she seems to be indeed a shy person, either by education or dignity, as wife of the prime minister of the austere, newly united, Italy."

Tracking Antonio di Rudini’s genealogy led to finding she was Dora Dupre Labouchère. Her father was prominent British politician Henry Labouchère who, according to his Wikipedia article, "... is remembered for the Labouchère Amendment to British law, which for the first time made all male homosexual activity a crime…" This is what broke mathematician and code breaker Alan Turing after his distinguished service in the second World War. Her father’s Wikipedia article gives her name as Mary Dorothea (Dora). I cannot guess where the name Diane de la Bouchère came from.

According to a MyHeritage sketch linked from her Geni.com sketch, she had a daughter with Eugenio Mario Guiseppe Bartolomeo Ruspoli.

From the Dorotheum Web site.

1903 Diane de la Bouchère by Vittorio Matteo Corcos (auctioned by Dorotheum) From the Dorotheum Web site

Ms. Labouchère emerges from a cloud of white fur wearing a white evening dress in this Corcos portrait.

Keywords:  1903, Corcos, Dora Dupre Labouchère, Mary Dorothea Dupre Labouchère, Diane de la Bouchère, Labouchère family, Ruspoli family, Italian, curly bouffant coiffure, fur jacket, fur coat, lining, pouter pigeon bodice, vee neckline,close skirt, lace-edged flounces

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