Around 50 lots had already been sold on May 26 in the second part of Sotheby's New York's "Master Paintings" auction, when lot number 353, a portrait of a puppy measuring just 24.4 x 31.4 cm entered the stage with an unflattering haircut. At the edge of the tabletop, on which the dog was placed next to an inkwell and quill and a folded sheet of paper inscribed with letters, the work was signed 'De Lamarre', indicating the French animal painter Jacques Barthélémy Delamarre. Not much is known about Delamarre apart from a few other works by his hand, only that he was admitted to the Académie Saint-Luc in Paris in 1777.
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One did not expect much for the oil painting, which was offered at an estimated price of $3,000-5,000 and no reserve. However, the lively bidding it received was likely because it may depict the dog of Marie Antoinette: Pompon, a poodle or maybe a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. The painting eventually sold for $279,400, almost a hundred times the low estimate.
Dogs have always been welcome at the courts of Europe. Marie Antoinette also owned several of these four-legged friends in the course of her life, although the information about them is scant and sometimes contradictory. After marrying the heir to the French throne at the age of fourteen, Marie Antoinette is said to have had two dogs to keep her company at Versailles. When she wanted to add to her small pack, she asked the Austrian ambassador, Count de Mercy-Argenteau, to get her a pug from her hometown of Vienna. In Sofia Coppola's film Marie Antoinette (2006), this pug accompanied the then Archduchess on her journey to France, but was taken away from her when she arrived at the new court. They were later reunited at Versailles. However, there is no evidence that the pug that Marie Antoinette "ordered" from Mercy-Argenteau was actually "Pompon."
Related: A History of Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun's Portraits of Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette then became the proud owner of a Leonberger, a large dog for a change. This dog, named after the chief Norse god Odin, is said to have been a gift from the Swedish Count Hans Axel von Fersen. Fersen was Marie Antoinette's "special friend" and what better way to symbolize love than with the gift of an animal known for its loyalty (although von Fersen was never faithful).
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The last dog in Marie Antoinette's life was a gift from her dear friend, Princess Marie-Thérèse de Lamballe, who, like her queen, was not to survive the Revolution. However, there is little detailed information about the dog. It may have been a toy spaniel, a so-called "papillon" - a name that can be traced back to the ears reminiscent of butterfly wings. Initially, the animal is said to be named Thisbe, but was then renamed Coco or Mignon. Coco/Mignon accompanied his mistress into captivity and, according to some sources, to the scaffold, where he is said to have howled so hard after the beheading of Marie Antoinette, that one of the guards stabbed him due to his "pro-aristocratic" behavior. Another story says that Madame de Tourzel, the last governess of the royal children, took in Coco/Mignon, who lived for 22 years.
Related: How the Affair of the Diamond Necklace Ruined Marie Antoinette
Jacques Barthélémy Delamarre painted several versions of the present painting, which differ in the size of the dog, its hairstyle and the accompanying objects.
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