My mystery photo of a painting solved

Art Appreciation
I was going through my old photos on flickr and found this one, which was taken during a visit to the Chateau De Versailles in 2000. 

At first, I thought the painting depicted Marie Antoinette and her children. Seeking confirmation, I Googled searched paintings of Marie Antoinette and her children displayed in Versailles, but came up no results. I then decided to contact the Chateau De Versailles to help me confirm the painting.

It turns out that I was wrong. Way wrong. The painting is not of Marie Antoinette but of Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart, chief mistress to King Louis XIV, and her children (Louis Auguste, Louise-Françoise, Louis-César and Louise Marie Anne ).

Children: Louis-Auguste of Bourbon, Duke of Maine, 1670-1736, Louis-César of Bourbon, Count of Vexin, 1672-1683, Louise-Françoise of Bourbon, Princess of Condé, 1673-1743 and Louise-Marie-Anne of Bourbon, 1674-1681.

Source: Wikipedia; http://www.chateauversailles.fr

Constance Whitney Warren

Art Appreciation

American sculptor, Constance Whitney Warren, was best known for her Western subjects, such as the bronze statute that sits outside the Texas State Capitol building of a cowboy riding a rearing horse. The statute was erected 1925.

The picture below was taken on January 16, 2012--interestly, Constance Whitney Warren's birthday was January 17, 1888. My son and I were playing catch on the Capitol grounds, when I remembered that I had taken a picture of the cowboy thirteen years earlier. I told my son I had to take a picture of the cowboy and compare it with the one I took back then.

Texas Cowboy at Sunset, c1996, Canon 35mm camera web

Sources: http://www.tspb.state.tx.us/SPB/Gallery/MonuList/06.htm; http://www.askart.com/askart/w/constance_whitney_warren/constance_whitney_warren.aspx

R.I.P. Katie

My mother-in-law's white schnauzer passed away recently. She was a wonderful dog with a very loving personality.

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