Countess Ebba Sparre
by BOURDON, Sébastien, Oil on canvas, 106 x 90 cm
The elegantly dressed woman holding a wreath of flowers, shown three-quarter length before a plain, dark background, is Ebba Sparre (1626-1662), lady-in-waiting to Queen Christina of Sweden. She was one of the queen’s favourites, her closest friend. S�bastien Bourdon painted the portrait while he was in Stockholm as First Painter to the Queen from 1652 until Christina’s abdication in 1654.
The painting is in a poor state of preservation, it was originally a much more sumptuous image.