Gabriel REVEL (Château-Thierry 1643 - 1712 Dijon)

Portrait as Judith, presumed to be of the Marquise de Montespan Montespan, née Françoise de Rochechouart de Mortemart (1640-1707) Oil on canvas 98.5 x 75 cm. Signed and dated on the entablature: Revel pinxit 1688 Presented in a fine Regency-period gilded and carved wood frame. Provenance: Possibly the "Judith and Holofernes" cited at the Château de Petit-Bourg, home of the Duc d'Antin, in 1736: "un dessus de trumeau de 3'[pieds]6"[pouces]: "Judith et Holopherne" (presumably for the bedroom in the Pavillon Nord). Private collection, Paris This captivating new portrait by Gabriel Revel, executed in 1688, presents a striking portrayal of a woman embodying the spirit of the biblical heroine Judith. Positioned against the severed head of Holofernes, she holds a sword in her right hand, now at rest after fulfilling its function. The interplay of colors and textures is masterfully employed by the artist, long a fellow portraitist of Charles Le Brun. A vermilion-red drapery that resembles a stream of blood divides the composition between the woman's lower body and her decapitated head. Her crystalline blue dress, achieved through the meticulous use of lapis lazuli powder, adds an ethereal elegance to the scene. Revel's skillful execution goes beyond the conventional standards of the time. The depth of psychological insight portrayed in the woman's gaze is remarkable, especially at a time when superficial satisfaction often prevailed. Here, we meet a woman who has chosen to be portrayed at great expense, embodying the courage and determination of Judith, vanquisher of a powerful enemy. This painting is a testament to Revel's artistic prowess and his ability to capture the complexities of human emotion and historical resonance in a single frame. A rare gem that stands the test of time, offering viewers a glimpse of a moment of triumph and defiance. We would like to thank Mr. Dominique Brême, author of several articles on Gabriel Revel's career, for confirming the attribution of this portrait in a letter dated March 2024, based on an examination of photographs, while expressing his reservations about our proposed identification of the sitter. Proposed identification: the Marquise de Montespan, from Venus to Marie-Madeleine Judith: an ambiguous figure Among the great female figures of the Holy Scriptures, only Ruth, Judith and Esther are the subject of an entire Book that tells their edifying story. Judith, a Jewess from the city of Bethulia and a widow of great beauty, in order to save her city from a siege led by the Assyrians, seduces their general Holofernes and, taking advantage of his drunkenness and sleep, beheads him, causing the besiegers to flee. Since the Middle Ages, Judith has been considered one of the "Nine Preuses" - those women of ancient history worthy of remembrance - and is, in the arts, the female equivalent of King David, whom iconography shows holding Goliath's head, but also the "counter-Salome", who used her attractions to obtain a scandalous and pecuniary favor from her father-in-law Herod: the death of the prophet John the Baptist. Yet Judith's attitude, between courage and cunning, between prayers and lies, was a regular subject of questioning for Catholic theologians, as Isaac-Louis Le Maistre de Sacy put it: "At first, we are surprised, and find it hard to understand, how a woman as chaste as Judith could set out to trap a man with her beauty". The first half of the 17th century saw an unprecedented development of the theme of illustrious women in art and literature. These include the paintings adorning the Queen's study at the Château de Richelieu, painted for the cardinal by Nicolas Prévost Prévost (1604-1670), those painted by Simon Vouet around 1645-1646 in the Palais Cardinal in Paris for the apartment of the regent Anne d'Autriche, and those by Charles Poerson, also circa 1645, set into the panelling of Madame de La Meilleraye's apartment Madame de La Meilleraye's apartment at the Arsenal de Paris. At the same time, Claude Vignon provided models to illustrate La Galerie des Femmes fortes, published in 1647 by the Jesuit Pierre Le Moyne, a major bestseller whose engravings by Abraham Bosse were subsequently used in many areas of the decorative arts. The theme of "Femmes illustres" or "Femmes fortes" is therefore partly linked to the Catholic Counter-Reformation, as is that of Marie Madeleine pénitente, so dear to 17th-century painters, and bears witness to the changing status of women since the Renaissance, at once "diabolical creature, agent of Satan, incarnation of original sin" but also, since the end of the twentieth century, "the devil".