Voet was a Flemish portrait painter who worked in Rome during the years 1663 to 1680, when he returned to Antwerp; he is next documented working in Paris from 1684-9.

The sitters for this fascinating double portrait were two of the five famously beautiful sisters who were brought to Paris in 1650 by their mother, the sister of Cardinal Mazarin (1602-1661) to take advantage of his power at court. In 1661 the two sisters depicted here made advantageous marriages: Marie to Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna and Hortense to Armand Charles de la Porte de la Meilleraye, who was created duc Mazarin at the same time. After the failure of Hortense’s marriage, she came to England in 1675 and became the official mistress of Charles II (which is presumably why the painting was given to Queen Victoria).

We must assume that this portrait was painted at the time of the double marriage and refers to the great good fortune of the young women depicted. The idea would seem to be that the sumptuously dressed Marie (then aged 22) is predicting that her more simply dressed sister (aged 15) will do even better in love and fortune than she has. An inscription on the front of the canvas tells the situation slightly differently, saying that it is Hortense predicting that Marie will marry the young King Louis XIV. The women in the painting may seem of similar age, but the fortune teller is surely the older of the two.

The date of 1661 would mean that Voet was working in Paris at this time, before his trip to Rome, where he would have seen the inspiration for this composition - Caravaggio’s Fortune Teller (Louvre) - in the French Royal collection. For the Caravaggio as well as this composition it is worth noting that fortune tellers at this time ‘read’ the lines on their subject’s foreheads as well as those on their palms.