Alexander KUCHARSKI (Warsaw, 1741-Paris, 1819) Portrait of the Viscount of Balleroy Oval pastel. 69 x 51 cm Provenance : Balleroy castle Bibliography: Neil Jeffares, http://www.pastellists.com/Articles/Kucharski.pdf Baron Ludovic de Contenson, La société des Cincinnati de France et la guerre d'Amérique, 1778-83, Ed. A. Picard, n°12, reproduced. Jean-François de La Cour, vicomte de Balleroy (1726-1802), naval officer, son of Jacques Claude Augustin, marquis de Balleroy, governor of the duc d'Orléans, lieutenant general of the armies, and of Marie Elisabeth Goyon de Matignon, granddaughter of the marshal de Matignon. He is wearing the Order of the Cincinnati. The Order of the Cincinnati is a patriotic American society of senior officers and generals who fought in the Revolutionary War. It was founded by George Washington in 1783 and is composed of thirteen state societies corresponding to the thirteen American states and a fourteenth French society called the Society of the Cincinnati of France. It disappeared under the Terror and was rehabilitated in 1925 by the descendants of the first members. The name of the society was chosen in reference to the Roman hero Cincinnatus who led the Roman armies to defend the Republic. The decoration of the order is a light blue ribbon surrounded by two white stripes which can be seen attached to the buttonhole on our portrait. Viscount de Balleroy began his military career as a guard in the Royal Navy. After passing through the various ranks, he became a captain in 1772 and participated in many naval battles during the American War of Independence. In 1784, he was elevated to the rank of squadron leader of the naval armies. He emigrated at the time of the Revolution during his last command in Brest. Kucharski also painted the portrait of the Marquise de Balleroy née La Vaupalière.