Portrait of Henrick Bourbon 1759

The son of Louis Henri de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, Henri de Bourbon (here titled 'Henrick Bourbon') was a member of the Condé branch of the French royal house. Nattier's 1742 portrait of him, held in the records of the Hermann Göring Collection, places this work among the many European artworks seized by Nazi leadership for private collections — Göring assembled one of the largest private art collections in history through looting and coerced purchase. The work's current status after restitution proceedings would depend on the complex post-war legal processes that addressed seized art. As a portrait of a minor prince of the Condé line by Nattier, the work would have been appropriate to any major French noble collection from which it may have been taken.

Male aristocratic portraiture by Nattier was less frequent than his celebrated female subjects but followed similar technical principles: warm, controlled flesh tones over a cool underpainting, formal dress rendered with broad fluid strokes, and an expression of composed authority suited to rank. Accessories indicating military or civil rank would identify the subject's specific position.